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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Time to Compile

Time to Compile explores several key themes.  1) The Hidden Human Network Many technologies are powered by humans for the benefit of each other, but often this network is occluded, leaving a machine seeming quite intelligent, e.g., IBM’s Watson.  With this presumption of intelligence, can an audience thus pass a Turing Test in a live environment?  2) Are humans becoming more robot-like? This question was originally posed in the reverse, but upon further inspection, it is easy to argue that the rich adaptability of humans is heavily exploited in emerging technologies (more than any particularly successful imitation of biology).  With these changes, are humans finding social structures like family or friendships in embodied and personal technology experiences?  3) Time to Compile How long does it take to find resolution with or understanding of different technologies?  How long before we iterate?  Who gets to investigate the inner-workings of these machines?  When have we assimilated a new technology permanently? How will we change?

"Time to Compile" by Catie Cuan x The RAD Lab. Photos by Yi-Chun Wu, Keira Heu-Jwyn Chang, and Sam Berube.

Performances

The Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology, Connecticut College, New London, CT

The Granoff Center for Creative and Performance Arts, Brown University, Providence, RI

The Ferst Center for the Arts, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA

The Midway, San Fransisco, CA

Casa Paganini Infomus, Genoa, Italy

Dance NOW Festival, Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, New York, NY

ThoughtWorks ParadigmShift, Evergreen Brick Works, Toronto, ON

Mountain Arts Center, Prestonsburg, KY

Collaborators

Catie Cuan was an artist-in-residence in the lab from 2017-2019. She created and performed in the piece with lab director Amy LaViers, assisted by lab members Ishaan Pakrasi, Novoneel Chakraborty, Erin Berl, and Wali Rizvi. Additional support was given by Sydney Skybetter and the Conference on Research on Choreographic Interfaces, which hosted a residency for the work, and Ariane Michaud and the Dance NOW Festival, which invited further choreographic ideation. Cameron Scoggins, Eric Minnick, Alexandra Nilles, Alexandra Bacula, and Roshni Kaushik also supported various performances of the piece.

Two dancers with light skin and black, fitted clothing reach around a white table with a white humanoid robot and two cell phones on top.
Amy LaViers and Catie Cuan perform "Trio" an excerpt of "Time to Compile" by Catie Cuan x The RAD Lab at the 2018 DanceNOW Festival at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater in New York, NY. Not pictured: Ishaan Pakrasi controlling the humanoid robot. Photo credit: Yi-Chun Wu.

Publications

C. Cuan, J. Hoffswell, and A. LaViers. “Stories About the Future: An Initial Dataset Exploring How Co-movement with Robots Affects Perceptions About Robot Capability.” 7th International Conference on Movement and Computing (MOCO). 10. Virtual from Jersey City, NJ. 2020.

C. Cuan, E. Berl, and A. LaViers. “Measuring Human Perceptions of Expressivity in Natural and Artificial Systems Through the Live Performance Piece Time to Compile.” Paladyn. Journal of Behavioral Robotics. (Special Issue on Social Robots in Therapy: Focusing on Autonomy and Ethical Challenges). 10(1), 364–379. 2019.

C. Cuan, E. Berl, and A. LaViers. “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.” Paladyn. Journal of Behavioral Robotics. (Special Issue on Social Robots in Therapy: Focusing on Autonomy and Ethical Challenges). 10(1), 267-285. 2019.

W. Rizvi, I. Pakrasi, and A. LaViers. “Influence of Variable Environments and Character-Specific Design on Perception of Virtual Robots with Affective La- bels.” International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR). 256-266. Madrid, Spain, 2019.

E. Berl, I. Pakrasi, and A. LaViers. “Creating Context Through Performance: Perception of the ‘DD’ Robotic Platform in Variable Valence Interactions in Distinct Office Environments.” International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR). 288-298. Madrid, Spain, 2019.

W. Rizvi, I. Pakrasi, and A. LaViers. “Movement Design of Virtual Aerial Robots with Distinct Affective Labels.” 6th International Conference on Movement and Computing (MOCO). 27. Tempe, AZ, 2019. (Extended Abstract)

I. Pakrasi, N. Chakraborty, C. Cuan, E. Berl, W. Rizvi, and A. LaViers. “Dancing Droids: An Expressive Layer for Mobile Robots Developed Within Choreographic Practice.” International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR). 410-420. Qingdao, China, 2018.

C. Cuan, I. Pakrasi, and A. LaViers “Perception of Control in Artificial and Hu- man Systems: A Study of Embodied Performance Interactions.” International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR). 503-512. Qingdao, China, 2018.

C. Cuan, I. Pakrasi, E. Berl, and A. LaViers “CURTAIN and Time to Compile: A Demonstration of an Experimental Testbed for Human-Robot Interaction.” 27th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN). 255-261. Nanjing, China, 2018.

C. Cuan, I. Pakrasi, and A. LaViers, “Time to Compile.” 5th International Conference on Movement and Computing (MOCO). 53. Genoa, Italy 2018. (Practice Work; Extended Abstract)

I. Pakrasi, N. Chakraborty, and A. LaViers, “A Design Methodology for Abstracting Character Archetypes onto Robotic Systems.” 5th International Conference on Movement and Computing (MOCO). 24. Genoa, Italy, 2018.

C. Cuan, I. Pakrasi., and A. LaViers, “Time to Compile: An Interactive Art Installation”, Intersections: 16th Biennial Symposium. 19-24. The Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology. New London, CT. 2018.