Biologically-inspired robots for stage performance

Abstract

Stage performances present many challenges and opportunities in the field of robotics. Onstage robots not only have to function flawlessly, they must interact convincingly with their human counterparts and adhere to a rigid timeline. The scope of this work is to create set pieces that look and behave like organic entities for the production of Tod Machover's new opera, Death and the Powers. With a set of design rules and techniques, I have developed the mechanical and control systems, including their interactive behavior, for several performance-ready robots. A six-legged walking robot and transformable robot were first built to verify the adopted design methodology prior to the prototyping of onstage robots. In addition, the robots were certified as performance-ready according to four criteria: the visual appearance, the overall functionality, the quality of movement, and the fluency of human-robot interaction. Two robots were successfully built and tested for use in the opera of Death and the Powers.