Day 1: (Tue Aug 31, Week 1) Welcome and Introduction

Please bookmark this site: https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/16-375

Agenda

1. Welcome to 16-375/54-375 Robotics for Creative Practice!

   • scope and style of the course

   • IDeATe “Physical Computing” minor

   • collaboration and reflection

   • major objective: live performances in miniature form

   
   

2. Administrative

   • Pandemic concerns.

   • Enrollment and waitlist.

   • Course site: https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/16-375

     • Daily log pages (like this one): Daily Agenda Logbook

     • RCP project site

     • Canvas and Canvas Calendar

   • Laser cutter qualification: see IDeATe Laser Cutter Policies

   • Attendance and tardiness policies.

   • Electronic device policies.

   • Physical Computing Lab

     • Card access

     • Physical Computing Lab use and abuse

     • We are sharing the room with six other classes (see IDeATe PhysComp Lab Calendar)

     • We may also make use of Hunt A5 (across the hall)

   • Computing Needs

   • Office hours: TBD. Please answer my office hours poll.

   • Name tags and photos.

3. In-class

   1. Mutual introductions, In-Class Exercise: Interview Game.

   2. See discussion notes.

   3. Short breakout session in different groups. Each should try to find several answers to the following questions:

      • What kinds of creative practice are represented in the group?

      • What forms of non-verbal behavior have you observed used as an expressive medium?

      • What forms of non-anthropomorphic behavior have you observed used as an expressive medium?

   4. Webots simulator demonstration

New Assignments

1. Please install the simulator software on your own laptop: Webots Robot Simulator, Python 3 Installation

2. Please complete the RCP Fall 2021 Skill Survey if you haven’t already. This should just take a few minutes.

3. Please fill out the office hours poll if you haven’t already.

4. Please complete laser-cutter training if you have not already done so. There are three parts:

   • asynchronous online course: BioRAFT Laser Cutter Safety

   • scheduled online course: BioRAFT Fire Extinguisher Training

   • asynchronous video training: IDeATe Laser Training Part 1, IDeATe Laser Training Part 2

   For more details: IDeATe Laser Cutter Policies, IDeATe Laser Cutter Overview

Discussion notes

For reference: Course Description

1. definitions of “Robotics”

   • AI-oriented: the integration of sensing, cognition, and action

   • Engineering: the discipline of integrating mechanism, software and electronics

   • Industrial: programmable tools

   • Cultural: machines which emulate humans

   • Our working definition: surprisingly animate machines which produce embodied behavior using both algorithms and physical dynamics

   
   

2. definitions of “Creative Practice”. In various contexts:

   • art gallery

   • theater

   • advertising

   • consumer products

   • animatronics

   • The course focus this semester is toward “miniature installation art.”

   
   

3. definitions of “dynamic”

   • \(F = m a\)

   • \(\frac{dx}{dt} <> 0\)

   • something that moves or changes

   • closed-loop, sensor-driven feedback

   • non-repeating pattern

   • constructed of liquid or flexible material

   • interactive

   • fast or energetic

   • computationally generated

   • at the core: a process unfolding through both physics and computation

   
   

4. definitions of “surprisingly animate”. Elusive, much like “Artificial Intelligence”. For us:

   • evoking life

   • using physical movement and dynamics to expose hidden means and intent

   • using the hidden nature of algorithms to construct a performance vocabulary

   
   

5. definitions of “expressive dynamic behavior”

   • physical and mechanical dynamic behavior (without computation)

   • programmed behavior (e.g. animation)

   • feedback-driven generated behavior

   • all told: creating an illusion of life and agency

   
   

6. What the course is not:

   • mobile robotics

   • planning and navigation

   • AI and machine learning

   • a unified narrative stage show; this is more of a set of explorations and experiments

   • robots as fabrication machinery