Eliza Chaikin
EID 111
15 December 2000
Project Summary
This project consists of several proposals for an interactive
robotic stage. The projects all involve an interactive dialog
between the actors and the stage. The actors must read
and respond to the changes the stage makes and the
stage will respond to the movements of the actors and their
relationships to each other. The robot technically needs an
eye, a database of images, and a projector. I’m interested
in the robot as a non-personality object; it is not a
character and its personality is defined by the images it
projects not by its physical characteristics.
Project 1 .. Doorways
Doorways is a linear series of images of doorways. The
images range from well known paintings to digital
photographs of Cooper Union to photographs of well known
architectural spaces. The actor, or participant, does not know
his lines or his choreography. The actor must read the
background that the robot projects and respond accordingly
in order to advance their conversation. In Doorways the actor
must stand in the virtual doorway for the robot to change the
scenery. The robot will then change to a new scene and the
actor must physically move to the next virtual doorway to
advance the plot / conversation.
Project 2 .. Close-up
In Close-up the robot measures the actors distance from the
back screen and projects one image at varying scales. When
the actor moves closer to the screen image scale gets smaller
and when the actor walks away from the screen the image gets
larger. From the vantagepoint of someone in the audience the
relationship between the actor and the background visually
remains the same. Depth is flattened to the audience no matter
how the actor moves. Basically the set is following the actor
around the stage.
Project 3 .. Acting Relationship
Acting Relationship requires one screen and at least
two actors. The background projection changes in
accordance to the spatial relationship between the
actors. The actors learn about their relationships to
each other by reading how the images on the
background change. The robotic set designer may want
to create a feeling of tension between the actors so it
may project a cold and sterile environment. Hostility /
boxing ring. Romance / candle lit dinner. Academics /
school room. Etc. The actors could ad lib accordingly.
Project 4 .. Charades
Charades requires two actors and two screens. The actors
play simultaneously. Actor A plays with screen A while actor
B plays with screen B. On both screens A and B two
different images appear. The images are of spaces that
define a certain type of activity, golf course / playing golf.
The player must act out the action described by the image,
when he acts correctly the robot changes to the next
scene. The winner is the one to finish first. Since the robot
is the judge, the actions of the players has to be very
generalized and exaggerated. Even though the actions of
the player may be understood by an audience the player
must communicate his actions to the robotic judge, thus
perhaps creating a new type of body language for human /
robotic relationships.