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.

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.

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 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

Robots and Avatars – Collaborative and Intergenerational Futures is a two year programme of work extending our research in the UK into Europe. The project explores a near future world where collaborations between robots, avatars, virtual worlds, telepresence and real-time presence will be increasingly common. With co-organisers KIBLA (Slovenia) and AltArt (Romania), the project looks at emergence of the European (virtual/physical) citizen and examines multi-identity evolutions and virtual mobility.

The project comprises of a distinctive programme of activities including, artist commissions, a touring exhibition, learning experiences, live streamed debates, a week-long camp/residency, a website and a book.

It will bring together an intergenerational group of artists, cultural players, young people and experts from around Europe, to create a community that will explore and extend our understanding of working and creating in a 21st century world of virtual/physical co-operation.

body>data>space is one of 11 organisations in the UK to have have received lead organiser funding from the EU Culture Programme (2007-13) for Robots and Avatars – Collaborative and Intergenerational Futures.

Exhibition and Call for Proposals

NOW OPEN- A call for proposals for a series of artist commissions for the exhibition. To apply and get more information please follow this link

The Robots and Avatars Exhibition will open at FACT, Liverpool in March 2012

Project partners include: The Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT), Liverpool, National Theatre, London, Society for Arts and Technologies (SAT), Quebec and centre des arts, Paris.

Cynthia Breazeal founded and directs the Personal Robots Group at MIT’s Media Lab. Her research focuses on developing the principles and technologies for building personal robots that are socially intelligent—that interact and communicate with people in human-centric terms, work with humans as peers, and learn from people as an apprentice.

She has developed some of the world’s most famous robotic creatures, ranging from small hexapod robots to highly expressive humanoids, including the social robot Kismet and the expressive robot Leonardo. Her recent work investigates the impact of social robots on helping people of all ages to achieve personal goals that contribute to quality of life, in domains such as physical performance, learning and education, health, and family communication and play over distance.

The recent lunch debate on Health and Wellbeing explored future scenarios for old age, medicine, care and the human body, asking what sort of future should we be preparing our young people for? Robots and Avatars brought together a range of experts including Professor Raymond Tallis (Emeritus Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Manchester) and Professor Kevin Warwick (Professor of Cybernetics at Reading University) to discuss and debate the issue.

As part of the debate participants visioned care being administered by and through robots and avatars, the development of implants that would alter the way the brain works in order to cure many common diseases, a greater life expectancy with a shorter period of ‘woe’ towards the end of peoples lives and the possibility of self diagnosis and treatment as a result of advances in medical technology.

Central to the debate were questions around the representation of humans in care scenarios. Some participants resolutely argued that there can be no replacement for human to human care, emphaising the importance of empathy in care. Others were keen to emphasise the relatively low uptake of new technologies such as telecare and mobile apps which help patients self-diagnose. Whilst participants’ personal trepidations about their own old age entered into the debate, it was also emphasized that a future of health and wellbeing where robots and avatars play an increasingly important role, is very unlikely to completely replace the human to human contact but instead would most likely serve to augment it. This area of the debate touched on many of the issues that Robots and Avatars has been exploring over the course of the Lunch Debate Series including the credibility of artificial intelligence, the need to address illusion within representational forms and thinking about the ways in which we adopt new technologies.

Another key area of the debate focused around increased life expectancy, new ways of thinking about ‘old age’ and how we might go about changing perceptions now? According to ‘most attractive model’ for the future of ageing put forward by Professor Raymond Tallis, today’s young people are expected to live longer and have better health for longer, significantly affecting the way the population ages. As such, it is clear that we will have to develop new ways of thinking about not just old age but age more generally. It’s interesting to note that the word ‘teenager’ originated in the early 20th Century and has given rise to a complex set of ideas that strongly inform the ways we relate to, provide for and deal with 13-19 year olds, now it is time for teenagers to start thinking about what they want to be called when they are fit and healthy and in their 80′s – and still with another 20 years to live.

We will be sharing video content from the Health and Wellbeing soon. To see video and reports from previous debates click here.

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