A Machine
Babyface
Making Meaning With Machines
Time to Compile

Robots and Dance: A Promising Young Alchemy

By A. LaViers
Counts of Mechanical, External Configurations Compared to Computational, Internal Configurations in Natural and Artificial Systems
Center-of-Mass Control for Expressive and Effective Movement in Bipedal Robots
Programmed Improvisation Inspired From Autonomous Humanoids
Breathing With Robots: Notating Performer Strategy, Alongside Choreographer Intent and Audience Observation, In Breath-driven Robotic Dance Performance
An Open Data Infrastructure for Bodily Expressed Emotion Understanding
Modeling the Interactions of Context and Style on Affect in Motion Perception: Stylized Gaits Across Multiple Environmental Contexts
Character Recognition on a Varied Robotic Platforms via a Laban Movement Analysis in Expert and Lay Groups
First Encounters with Robots Through Embodied Observation, Imagined Narrative, and Choreography
Controls and Art
Automatic Sequencing of Ballet Poses: A Formal Approach to Phrase Generation
Toward an Expressive Bipedal Robot: Variable Gait Synthesis and Validation in a Planar Model

Abstractions for Design-by-Humans of Heterogeneous Autonomous Behaviors

Written by A. LaViers, A. Bashiri, Y. Sheng, J. Heddy, and L. Bai
Style-based Robotic Motion in Contemporary Dance Performance
Babyface: Performance and Installation Art Exploring the Feminine Ideal in Gendered Machines

Automation Supporting Prolonged Independent Residence for the Elderly (ASPIRE)

National Science Foundation Award #1528036
Time to Compile: A Performance Installation as Human-Robot Interaction Study Examining Self-Evaluation and Perceived Control Through the Lenses of Movement and Technology Literacy and Valence
Imitation of Human Motion by Low Degree-of-Freedom Simulated Robots and Human Preference for Mappings Driven by Spinal, Arm, and Leg Activity
Ideal Mechanization: Exploring the Machine Metaphor Through Theory and Performance
Laban-Inspired Task-Constrained Expressive, Variable Motion Generation on Aerial Robots
Feasible Stylized Motion: Robotic Manipulator Imitation of a Human Demonstration with Collision Avoidance and Style in Increasingly Cluttered Environments
An Embodied, Platform-invariant Architecture for Connecting High-level Spatial Commands to Platform Articulation
Choreographic and Somatic Approaches for the Development of Expressive Robotic Systems

Can a Robot Do a Trust Fall? Absurdity as a Component of Human Intelligence and Embodiment

By A. LaViers and I. Vidrin
Toward Human-like Teleoperated Robot Motion: Performance and Perception of a Choreography-inspired Method in Static and Dynamic Tasks for Rapid Pose Selection of Articulated Robots
Motion-activated Wearable Robot for Live Dance Performance Investigating the Feminine Cyborg Metaphor

CURTAIN and Time to Compile: A Demonstration of an Experimental Testbed for Human-robot Interaction

Written by C. Cuan, I. Pakrasi, E. Berl, and A. LaViers
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Center-of-Mass Control for Expressive and Effective Movement in Bipedal Robots

Read UIUC's press release

This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) collaborative project will apply insights from the study of human athletes and dancers to enable similarly effective and expressive movement in humanoid robots. The objective is to create the capability for such movement without duplicating the full complexity and articulation of the human torso. Specifically, the project will implement a novel mechanism for shifting a heavy mass that shifts the robot center of mass independently of limb movements using novel muscle-like actuators, and evaluate the results based on a formal system of movement analysis developed for dance, athletics, and physical therapy. In addition to improving the robot's effectiveness at accomplishing locomotion, i.e., a walking gait, these capabilities will provide new channels for communication between robots and humans, i.e., modulating the style of the walking gait. Humans make unconscious inferences about attitude and intent from observing movement. For example, a robot co-worker will be more effective if its movements communicate trustworthiness and competence to its human partners, and a robot first-responder will be more effective if its movements communicate confidence and leadership during an emergency situation. This project incorporates the interplay of art and technology into outreach activities, such as using dance movements to understand fundamentals of robot locomotion.

This project takes a novel approach to generating dynamic walking in a humanoid robot, by exploiting the dynamics of a novel, core-located rolling ball-and-tray actuation mechanism arising from exploration of embodied movement theory. The impedance of the actuator is varied in real time, modulating the robot dynamics to produce qualitatively different excitations. The focus of the project is on controlling the expressive character of robot gait, with explicit comparison to human movement. The goals of the project are to explore the role of center-of-mass control in human walking and to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach for bipedal robotic walking through modeling, simulation, and an initial prototype. The work will model and validate the ball-and-tray actuator via a set of motion primitives designed in accordance with Bartenieff Fundamentals, a formal system of movement analysis. The research team brings together experts in movement science, dynamic walking, and muscle-like actuation. In addition to improving robot performance, this work has the potential to increase the bandwidth of robot-human communications. Expressive movement can convey many different emotional contexts, including urgency, calm, enthusiasm, confidence, et cetera. The ability to engineer these contexts into robot movement has many potential applications in human facing scenarios.

See award info at the National Science Foundation

Related Publications:

A. LaViers and C. Maguire. Making Meaning With Machines: Somatic Strategies, Choreographic Technologies, and Notational Abstractions Through a Laban/Bartenieff Lens. MIT Press. 2023.

C. Fuller, U. Huzaifa, A. LaViers, and J. Schultz. “Core-centered actuation for Biped Locomotion of Humanoid Robots.” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS). 3481-3487. Virtual from Las Vegas, NV. 2020.

U. Huzaifa, C. Maguire, and A. LaViers. “Toward an Expressive Bipedal Robot: Variable Gait Synthesis and Validation in a Planar Model.” International Journal on Social Robotics (SORO). 12(1), 129-141. 2019.

J. Lambert, W. Rizvi, U. Huzaifa, and A. LaViers. “A Comparison of Descriptive and Emotive Labels to Explain Human Perception of Gait Styles on a Compass Walker in Variable Contexts.” 28th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN). 1-8. New Dehli, India, 2019.

U. Huzaifa, C. Fuller, J. Schultz, and A. LaViers. “Toward a Bipedal Robot with Variable Gait Styles: Sagittal Forces Analysis in a Planar Simulation and a Prototype Ball-Tray Mechanism.” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS). 2266-2272. Macau, China, 2019.

U. Huzaifa and A. LaViers. “Control Design for Planar Model of a Core-located Actuation Walker.” 6th IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob). 170-175. Singapore. 2016.

U. Huzaifa, C. Bernier, Z. Calhoun, C. Kohout, J. Heddy, B. Libowitz, A. Moenning, J. Ye, C. Maguire, and A. LaViers. “Embodied Movement Strategies for Development of a Core-located Actuation Walker.” 6th IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob). 176-181. Singapore. 2016. (Best Poster Finalist)