openFrameworks Example

Golan said something about obtaining a robot arm for IACD in class on Tuesday that set my wheels turning. I was exposed to the idea of using robot arms for creative practice last semester when I saw this video of the Bot & Dolly performance. Since then I’ve been seeking out other similar projects, mostly because I’m so curious about them. I feel comfortable with many mediums of expression, but honestly have no idea how I’d ever go about using a robot arm for artistic practice. I see this discomfort as motivation to seek more exposure to the form, which is why the robotic arm Rhythmic Gymnastics piece caught my eye.

Rhythmic gymnastics | DENSO VS-050S2 from FIG. on Vimeo.

This piece combines my interests in creative robotics and dance. Whereas the idea of choreographed robots is not new, the FIG. – Amana Prototyping Lab in Japan narrows their scope to just a robot arm and ribbon dancing. A simple tool with simple movements for a clean, effective performance.

FIG. adapted these simple movements directly from traditional rhythmic gymnastics moves, as you can see in their documentation.

For fun, I looked up rhythmic gymnastic competition videos on YouTube to compare. Looks like FIG. got a lot of the movements right on point.

To make this attention to accuracy even more effective, I would like to see the robot arm performing in tandem with a human, one that has experience in competitive rhythmic gymnastics. Seeing the two side-by-side would not only more immediately reveal the robot’s accuracy, but moves this piece forward from a static performance to a duo, one that examines the relationship between a robot and a human, and that’s a space that I find very interesting.

openFrameworks addon

Knowing that this class is going to explore mapping and location information visualization, the ofxHeatMap addon looks like it could be useful for some projects. I’ve seen heat maps generated from location tags and hashtags via social media posts before, which is a clear use for this addon. I’ve been having fun brainstorming other uses for it.