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EXHIBITION: Robots & Avatars, our colleagues & playmates of the future
Nov 22nd
Join us in a near future where robots, avatars and telepresence form part of an exciting new reality.
From pervasive networked gaming to robots that teach, touch, care or scare, Robots and Avatars already co-habit the world in which we work and play.
Robots and Avatars is an intercultural, intergenerational and interdisciplinary exploration of a near future world consisting of collaborations between robots, avatars, virtual worlds, telepresence and real time presence within creative places, work spaces, cultural environments, interactive entertainment and play space.
“I love the way Robots and Avatars is bringing together a beautiful diversity of people, exploring new paradigms, with unexpected and inspiring results. Exciting! Brave! Fun!”
Pear Urushima, Marketing Guru, Apple. Inc
The Robots and Avatars Exhibition will feature cutting edge art pieces, including three Commissions with the National Theatre “Sociable Asymmetry”, “The Blind Robot” and “Visions of our Communal Dreams”. It will present a mixture of robotics, online and wearable projects, immersive installations, performances and films. Attached to the Exhibition are high-quality debates and workshops, playfully didactic experiences that will enable visitors of all ages and levels to interact and engage with digital technologies. The Robots and Avatars Jury has selected a number of works to make up the 3 exhibitions in the project through a high level and largely spread out Call for Proposal process.
The exhibition will present at FACT, Liverpool (UK) where it will premiere from 16 March to 27 May 2012; AltArt, Cluj-Napoca (Romania) in June/July 2012 and KIBLA (Slovenia) in 2013.
Read more about the exhibition at FACT here.
“The Robots & Avatars project has been one of the first to bring robotics and avatar professionals together and provide a creative atmosphere with artists and designers. This is such a wonderfully interdisciplinary grouping that I feel compelled and proud to support it.”
Noel Sharkey, Professor of AI and Robotics at the University of Sheffield (Department of Computer Science) and EPSRC Senior Media Fellow (2004–2009).
The Robots and Avatars exhibition in the UK is co-produced in the UK by body>data>space (London) and FACT (Liverpool) in collaboration with the National Theatre (London). European co-organisers are KIBLA (Maribor/Slovenia) and AltArt (Cluj Napoca/Romania). With the support of the Culture programme of the European Union, this project was conceived by lead producer body>data>space in association with NESTA.
Find the Selected Projects’ list more here
Visions of Our Communal Dreams (work-in-process) by Michael Takeo Magruder with Drew Baker, Erik Fleming and David Steele, 2012. Image C 2012 Takeo.
Robots and Avatars Exhibition- Selected Projects
Oct 24th
SELECTED PROJECTS from the Call for Development Commissions and Exhibits
We are very glad to announce that the following works and projects have been chosen by the Jury to be part of Robots and Avatars. Please see full list of projects here
The Jury has selected a number of works to make up the 3 exhibitions in the Robots and Avatars project. Linked to the differences in each venue, both in space and technical terms, the Jury has decided to present an exhibition that will differ slightly for each venue.
A selection of works will present at FACT, Liverpool (UK) for showing from late March to the end of May 2012; a few to AltArt, Cluj-Napoca (Romania) for presentation in June/July 2012 and KIBLA (Slovenia – as part of Maribor 2012, European Capital of Culture) will take a number of works into their gallery in October 2012.
Robots and Avatars Exhibition- Pre-selected Projects
Sep 28th
We were very happy to have received just under 200 applications from 27 countries in total for the Robots and Avatars Call for Proposals and we are extremely pleased with the high level of innovation, creativity and interactivity of the projects submitted.
We can now announce the projects which have been pre-selected for consideration by the Robots and Avatars Jury. 29 projects have been pre-selected in the Call for Exhibits category and 10 projects from the Development Commissions. Please see the full list here
The final selected artists will be announced by Friday 21st October 2011 after selection by the Jury.
The Robots and Avatars Exhibition Jury is made up of the directors from the project co-organisers and partners plus an independent expert from outside Europe. This is a curational jury to create the exhibition from the call.
• Ghislaine Boddington, Creative Director, body>data>space, London, (UK)
• Dooeun Choi, Creative Director, Art Centre Nabi, Seoul, (KR) (online involvement)
• Peter Tomaž Dobrila – Advisor for Programme and International Relations, European Capital of
Culture Maribor 2012, (SI)
• Aleksandra Kostic, President, KIBLA, Maribor, (SI)
• David Sabel, Head of Digital Media, National Theatre, London, (UK)
• Mike Stubbs, Director, FACT (Foundation for Arts and Creative Technology), Liverpool, (UK)
• Istvan Szakats, Director, AltArt, Cluj-Napoca, (RO)
With
• Cameron Bobro – Composer, performer, organiser, KIBLA, (SLO)
Robots and Avatars will present two Development Commissions and additionally a minimum of six existing works as an Exhibition in 2012
Robots and Avatars- Call for Proposals
Aug 1st
Robots and Avatars – our colleagues and playmates of the future
We invite submissions to this Call for Development Commissions and Call for Exhibits
Robots and Avatars will present two Development Commissions and additionally a minimum of six existing works as an Exhibition in 2012. Lead producer and concept developer of this EU Culture project is body>data>space and the partner for the commissions is National Theatre in London. The exhibition will tour to partner FACT, Liverpool (UK), and to co-organisers AltArt, Cluj-Napoca (Romania) and KIBLA (Slovenia- as part of Maribor 2012, European Capital of Culture).
Robots and Avatars is an intercultural, intergenerational and interdisciplinary exploration of a near future world consisting of collaborations between robots, avatars, virtual worlds, telepresence and real time presence within creative places, work spaces, cultural environments, interactive entertainment and play space.
Artists/designers and others from any background can apply. We welcome applications from installations, performances, performance / installations, telepresence, sound art, software, kinetic art, architecture, AV based work, hung work, gaming, models, robotics, virtual worlds etc – your vision will lead us!
Stage 1 Deadline: Wednesday 7th September 2011 (12 BST)
Find out more and apply here
Virtual/Physical Play Robot
Dec 1st
Here is an intresting article from Gizmag about The Playtime Computing System developed by MIT Media Laboratory’s Personal Robots Group. The system blends robotic and virtual interfaces and is currently designed for children between the ages of 4 and 6 years old. This blend also allows the device to be used with telepresence, enabling a play and learning to occur in real-time across continents.
As Alphabot passes through a hole in the display panel, it appears to continue its journey through the virtual world projected onto the panels. Image Source: Gizmag/MIT
In an increasingly tech-centric world, keeping kids interested in learning can be an uphill battle. With teaching that involves play recently attracting some powerful supportive voices, students from MIT’s Media Lab have developed a system which merges technology and play to stimulate young minds. The Playtime Computing system uses infrared emitters and tracking cameras to monitor the position of a special robot within a play area. As the bot disappears into a hole in a panel, it appears to continue its journey into a virtual world projected onto the walls.
The Playtime Computing system developed by MIT Media Laboratory’s Personal Robots Group is aimed at children between 4 and 6 years old and allows them to get up and about instead of sitting around and getting bored, a hot topic at the moment given Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign. It also allows for early experimentation in such things as symbolic reasoning and social roles.
The system is made up of three panels with projectors behind them, and a set of four ceiling projectors for sending images to the play area floor. Alphabot, a cube-shaped robot with infrared emitters at its corners, is tracked by ceiling-mounted cameras. A virtual landscape is projected onto the panels and floor to blur the barriers between reality and the artificially-created world. To further add to the illusion, as Alphabot disappears into a hole in the panel and some robotic foliage closes behind, the image projected onto the panel appears to show it continuing its journey into the virtual world.
A set of RFID-tagged wooden alphabet letters or symbols such as musical notes was also created so that the children can stick them onto Alphabot’s face. Placing letters onto the bot results in its face changing color to match, with musical notes causing music to be played through its onboard speakers. As the robot disappears into the virtual world beyond the panel, the symbol placed by the kids will also continue through to the animated version.
International playtime
The fun needn’t stop with just one play room, however. “One of the things we’re really excited about is having two of these spaces, one here and maybe one in Japan, and when the robot goes into the virtual word here, it comes out of the virtual world in Japan,” explained the group’s Adam Setapen. “So that kind of fits in with that one-reality concept, that there’s one robot, and whether it’s physical or virtual is based on the state of the robot in the Playtime Computing system.”Of course, kids being kids, the young prototype testers crammed lots of different symbols onto the bot, which it wasn’t developed to handle. They also expected other objects placed in the hole to appear on the screen. Future developments of the system may well take such things in stride, with children perhaps being able to send a favorite toy into the virtual world.
Maybe it would also be interesting to see how they would deal with a digital twin!
Another aspect of the system is the Creation Station, a table-top computer where youngsters can arrange objects or draw pictures. Whatever is on the Station is recreated on the panels via the projectors.
The researchers also kitted out the playful system testers with baseball caps sporting infrared emitters. This allowed the system to keep track of the kids as well as the Alphabot, which could make it possible for such things as interaction with the computer animated robot in future versions. If the team can develop the system to operate using something like Microsoft’s Kinect gaming technology, then players could be tracked without having to rely on infrared clothing.
The team says that the current prototype was put together using off-the-shelf parts at a cost of just a few hundred dollars, and believe that mass production for home use is a viable possibility.
Source: Gizmag
Robots and Avatars Vodcast
Aug 31st
Vodcast #3 – Professor Anna Craft
Professor of Education, University of Exeter and The Open University
On behaviours and ethics in education. With Professor Anna Craft, Professor of Education at the University of Exeter and the Open University.
robotsandavatars.net
Documentation
Nov 25th
Below you can find the archive of the Scribble Live feed from the Robots and Avatars Forum. The Robots and Avatars Forum was documented by live writers, video and photography.
Photos
Please see the gallery section to see photos from the event.
