NBC News.com: Six days a week, hundreds of people gather at Tokyo’s Robot Restaurant to watch women wearing bikinis do mock battle with hardwired combatants in the shape of dinosaurs, giant pandas, and transformers. Welcome to the world of robot stagecraft, where at least some of the thespians carry their cues on circuit boards.
5 comments:
I don't know if I feel to positively on this. On one hand, I think its incredible that there are robots that could do the " single ladies" dance. On the other, I don't want to see the small trend of robots slowly declining the use of actual entertainers. I feel like theater is always between an active audience and an active entertainer, not a with a robot that carefully assess then methodically moves on to the next programmed thought.
This article is interesting considering how we here in Purnell are just a short walk across a couple of bridges from one of the most respected human-computer interaction centers in the country. They mentioned in the article that the real trick with using robots in a show was to get them to not just be another gimmick, but to be real live part of the show, which I believe is possible with any number of technologies. However the robots used in the show, and any other form of technology used in entertainment currently, is still controlled or programmed by humans at some point, and is not truly robot created. I will be excited to see when computers develop to a sufficient point to be used of their own volition in entertainment.
I have mixed feelings about the concept of robots on stage.
On one hand, I attend a world class drama school where we train actors to use their whole self to embody a character. How can we expect a robot to ever come close to this level of technique? We can't, and it's sad to think that people are trying. Robotic technology is not advanced enough to type in the numbers for the Captcha below this blog's post window, let alone emotionally embody a character.
On the other hand, I attend a university with the best robotics program on the planet. If anybody could do this, it would be here.
So where does this leave actors in the equation? I'm not sure.
Perhaps this could open a up a whole new field in the performing arts. Trained performers who also possess programming knowledge could be valuable in programming robots to be performers. Using the skills and techniques learned though performance classes, they pass that knowledge along to there performance robots to help them become amazing performers.
Where does this leave performer though? Automobile factories, warehouses, and even banks are cutting jobs in favor of robotic alternatives now. When robots can sing and dance, where does this leave actors?
Luckily, it doesn't hurt actors at all. There is a special quality that only a live performer has. It's a special ability that can't be programmed into even the most complex robots. And luckily, most patrons of the performing arts attend performances just to experience that quality. That quality is emotion, and emotion (at least until the Cylons rise) is something that only a live human performer can ever have.
I think that until robots make up a substantial proportion of audiences and start demanding equality, human actors aren't in any danger of being "replaced" by machines. There's an inherent "otherness" in even the most human of robots that, when used on stage, is exploited for a certain gain. Even if (when) robots get sophistocated enough to play Hamlet, they would be used to make some kind of emotional, philosophical or artistic statement about him, not as a replacement for a human actor.
I've always been interested in both robots and theatre. Only in the last few years have robots and theatre really started to work together in a way that is more than just a gimmick. It was very fun to hear that someone from CMU was working on a robot comedian. It's not uncommon to see robots walking/rolling/flying around the campus. I would love to work on a project that combines the theatre department with the robotics department. I'm also very exited to see a show that uses robot actors. I've never had that chance, but I'm sure it's the sort of thing that you can't explain to others, you need to see it your self.
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