How artists improvise and provoke robotics
How artists improvise and provoke robotics
We explore transdisciplinary collaborations between artists and roboticists across a portfolio of artworks. Brendan Walker's Broncomatic was a breath controlled mechanical rodeo bull ride. Blast Theory's Cat Royale deployed a robot arm to play with a family of three cats for twelve days. Different Bodies is a prototype improvised dance performance in which dancers with disabilities physically manipulate two mirrored robot arms. We reflect on these to explore how artists shape robotics research through the two key strategies of improvisation and provocation. Artists are skilled at improvising extended robot experiences that surface opportunities for technology-focused design, but which also require researchers to improvise their research processes. Artists may provoke audiences into reflecting on the societal implications of robots, but at the same time challenge the established techno-centric concepts, methods and underlying epistemology of robotics research.
cs.RO
Benford, Steve
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Garrett, Rachael
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Schneiders, Eike
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Tennent, Paul
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Chamberlain, Alan
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Martinez Avila, Juan Pablo
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Brundell, Pat
160b8356-d79c-41bf-baed-19ca62ba08d7
Castle-Green, Simon
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29 October 2024
Benford, Steve
61c727be-1561-424d-a8ef-c6933d024630
Garrett, Rachael
b3b24494-0aa0-4c9c-b8ef-8d4c4c903915
Schneiders, Eike
9da80af0-1e27-4454-90e2-eb1abf7108bd
Tennent, Paul
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Chamberlain, Alan
149451ce-cb1e-4a85-8544-2c18b0d1275e
Martinez Avila, Juan Pablo
15ad356d-fef4-4279-8edf-0641897ee3bd
Brundell, Pat
160b8356-d79c-41bf-baed-19ca62ba08d7
Castle-Green, Simon
7b9f8ff2-8fe0-4af4-9b12-b646ab793165
Benford, Steve, Garrett, Rachael, Schneiders, Eike, Tennent, Paul, Chamberlain, Alan, Martinez Avila, Juan Pablo, Brundell, Pat and Castle-Green, Simon
(2024)
How artists improvise and provoke robotics
Springer Nature
(doi:10.48550/arXiv.2410.22462).
Record type:
Monograph
(Working Paper)
Abstract
We explore transdisciplinary collaborations between artists and roboticists across a portfolio of artworks. Brendan Walker's Broncomatic was a breath controlled mechanical rodeo bull ride. Blast Theory's Cat Royale deployed a robot arm to play with a family of three cats for twelve days. Different Bodies is a prototype improvised dance performance in which dancers with disabilities physically manipulate two mirrored robot arms. We reflect on these to explore how artists shape robotics research through the two key strategies of improvisation and provocation. Artists are skilled at improvising extended robot experiences that surface opportunities for technology-focused design, but which also require researchers to improvise their research processes. Artists may provoke audiences into reflecting on the societal implications of robots, but at the same time challenge the established techno-centric concepts, methods and underlying epistemology of robotics research.
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 2024
Published date: 29 October 2024
Additional Information:
16th International Conference on Social Robotics (ISCR 2024)
Keywords:
cs.RO
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 496666
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/496666
PURE UUID: 57120514-871d-4123-b9ce-04e1bda84ccc
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 07 Jan 2025 19:05
Last modified: 21 Aug 2025 02:52
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Contributors
Author:
Steve Benford
Author:
Rachael Garrett
Author:
Eike Schneiders
Author:
Paul Tennent
Author:
Alan Chamberlain
Author:
Juan Pablo Martinez Avila
Author:
Pat Brundell
Author:
Simon Castle-Green
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