Researcher Daan Hobbelen of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands will receive his Ph.D. this week for the development of the Flame walking robot. Traditionally, robots have walked in an unnatural, stiff and awkward manner. The Flame, according to a write-up on the TU Delft university website, comes much closer to replicating the "falling forward in a controlled fashion" and "energy-efficient movement" of humans.
Capuchin, a new robot from researchers at Stanford University, scales walls and cliffs, and can be used for geological research on earth and other planets. Lean more in NewScientist's recent article, "Climbing Robot Throws Its Weight Around."
"Capuchin's climbing is more human in terms of speed and agility," says Teresa Miller who worked on the 7kg robot before leaving Stanford last year. "When you look at Lemur [an earlier robot], it's hard to tell if it's climbing; it moves very slowly."
I'd like to see how dancers experiment with the weight-shifting approach of Capuchin as they scale vertical surfaces and inclines.
Dancers Go Vertical
Here are two examples of site-specific dance performances that use different architectural structures.
The aerial dancers of Project Bandaloop perform at the opening of a new hospital:
And you can also watch Rapture, choreographed by Noemie LaFrance, performed on Frank Gehry architecture at Bard College:
"Swarm intelligence (SI) is artificial intelligence based on the collective behavior of decentralized, self-organized systems." (Wikipedia)
What is the source of swarm intelligence? How can decentralized systems with independent parts perform miraculous feats in unison? In this post, I start with videos of flying Starlings and waggle dancing bees, and then highlight some of the latest developments in swarm robotics. Also, I'm looking for dance videos that show how dancers have addressed these topics.
The following video shows swarms of Starlings near Oxford, England [via Eggshell Robotics]:
Honeybees perform the "waggle dance" to notify each other about the location of nearby nectar:
An introduction to swarm intelligence based on nature [via Onionesque Reality]:
These tiny autonomous robots, from James McLurkin at MIT, work in unison to explore caves, landmines and planets. They can play follow-the leader and join in other formations [via Spatial Robots].
Self-Assembling Swarm Robots
There are an increasing number of examples of swarms of small robots that can self-assemble and replicate themselves:
Learn about research from the UK in "Robots with a mind of their own":
Watch the last part of Hod Lipson's "Robots that are 'self-aware'" from Ted Talks (this is final section of video with sub-title "Self-Replicating Cub"):
As I mentioned in opening, I'm very curious to learn about dancers who have created dance works that address issues related to swarm intelligence and emergence. If you have recommendations of choreographers and dancers to interview, please let me know.
How Might Dancers Contribute to the Movements of Autonomous Robots?
Summary: Germany-based Festo has created autonomous robots based on the structure and movement of jellyfish. The videos below highlight the elegant shapes and propulsion system of these digital creations. How might choreographers and dancers contribute to the movements and communication patterns of such artificial life forms that mimic biological processes? At the end of this post, I ponder this question while watching a wonderful video about choreographer Luciana Achugar that I highly recommend.
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AcquaJelly and AirJelly, from Germany-based Festo, are autonomous robots that are based on the "structure and kinematics" of "their biological model, the jellyfish." (Source)
I'd like to quote a bit from the write-up about AquaJelly. I'm struck by how the creative explorations of dancers dovetail with the characteristics and capabilities of this autonomous robot. Phrases below such as "wave-like contractions," "controlled by shifting its weight," and "act like a shoal with the behavior pattern of a more highly developed system" jump-out at me. What would happen if a group of choreographers and dancers joined with the robot's creators in a dance studio and did some experimentations? What types of exercises and explorations would actually take place? And what would result from such a cross-disciplinary collaboration? I think the end result could be quite beneficial and might lead to some intriguing insights.
Here's the technical passage:
AquaJelly is an artificial autonomous jellyfish with an electric drive and an intelligent, adaptive mechanical system...It moves with the aid of a peristaltic propulsion system, or wave-like contractions, based on the reaction thrust principle used by its biological precursor. The motion of the AquaJelly in three-dimensional environments is controlled by shifting its weight... When a pendulum moves in a certain direction, the centre of gravity of the jellyfish changes in this direction.
Each jellyfish decides autonomously which action to carry out on the basis of its current condition. This central electric drive, combined with an adaptive mechanical system and intelligent autonomous electronics, opens up possible new applications for self-controlling systems. If a large number of AquaJellies were equipped with communicative abilities, these could act like a shoal with the behavior pattern of a more highly developed system. If one applies this principle to automation, then numerous autonomous or semi-autonomous intelligent systems might be able to work together. In this way, large problems could be solved by small systems working together in harmony.
Luciana Achugar on the Possibilities of Robotic Movement
It strikes me that dance-makers like Achugar would bring an artistic approach, sensibility and curiosity that would be invaluable to the growing number of researchers and developers exploring new forms of technologically-driven movement.
(By the way, I don't know Achugar and I don't know if she or the folks at Festo would have any interest whatsoever in such a collaboration. I just like to give specific illustrations of what I have in mind in order to provide concrete examples of what might be possible).
