Digital Art, Robotics and Curating Projects
For Anna Dumitriu's Bioart and Bacteria work see www.normalflora.co.uk. Anna Dumitriu’s work blurs the boundaries between art and science with a strong interest in the ethical issues raised by emerging technologies. Her installations, interventions and performances use a range of digital, biological and traditional media including live bacteria, robotics, interactive media, and textiles. Her work has a strong international exhibition profile and is held in several major public collections, including the Science Museum in London. Dumitriu is known for her work as founder and director of “The Institute of Unnecessary Research”, a group of artists and scientists whose work crosses disciplinary boundaries and critiques contemporary research practice. She recently completed a Wellcome Trust commission entitled “The Hypersymbiont Salon", is collaborating as a Visiting Research Fellow: Artist in Residence with the Adaptive Systems Research Group at The University of Hertfordshire (focussing on social robotics) and (Leverhulme Trust 2011) Artist in Residence on the UK Clinical Research Consortium Project “Modernising Medical Microbiology” at The University of Oxford. Since 2005 she was also a Visiting Research Fellow: Artist in Residence in the Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics at the University of Sussex and still holds the honorary title. Her major international project “Trust me I’m an artist, towards an ethics of art/science collaboration” (in collaboration with the Waag Society in Amsterdam and The University of Leiden) investigates the novel ethical problems that arise when artists create artwork in laboratory settings. She is also a contributing editor to Leonardo Electronic Almanac. For The Institute of Unnnecessary Research see www.unnecessaryresearch.org. Click the links at the top of this section for information on key projects. For more information contact annadumitriu@hotmail.com
Artists Anna Dumitriu and Alex May are collaborating with Professor Kerstin Dautenhahn and Dr Michael L Walters from the Adaptive Systems Research Group to investigate their into social robotics and to ask the questions, do we want and need robot companions? And, if so, what kind of robot companions do we, as a society, want?
Uses for robot companions can vary, forms currently in development worldwide include robot carers for older people, robot nannies to watch over children, sexual companions and home defence robots. Bear in mind that the word ‘robot’ derives from the Slavic word ‘robota’ meaning forced labour.
Dumitriu and May’s work focusses on raising public debate around the ethical issues in contemporary robotics and led to the development of a serious of provocative heads for humanoid robots. Research shows that often people find humanoid robots appealing as companions and that the ‘head’ though technically irrelevant (sensors can be placed anywhere on a robot) acts as a focal point for users to communicate with their robot companions.
The interactive robot head is the ultimate in personal robotics. It can take on the appearance of any user to provide a potentially comforting sense of recognition and familiarity, as can aid users in every aspect of their lives, even while they are sleeping [reminiscent of witches “familiars” from folklore].
The “Familiar” head uses a Microsoft Kinect to take features from visitors faces and combining them with features from their friends and family’s faces based on their proximity to the robot. It looks most like the person that it sees most in order to promote bonding. As you approach, it turns to you and begins to change. The robot tells you “I like your face” or “I love you”. Of course this can also lead to a feeling of discomfort known in robotics as “the uncanny valley” (Mori, 1970), where users feel a sense of repulsion as robots become very humanlike (in this case very like themselves and their companions) but stopping short of being wholly human. The depth camera in the Kinect can be used to measure this effect in operation by recording how visitors approach the robot.
The piece was originally commissioned by The Science Gallery in Dublin as part of their 2011 “Human + the future of the species” exhibition, was exhibited at Kinetica Art Fair, “Robotville” at the Science Museum in London, “Robots and Avatars - UK Selection” at the 12 Star Gallery in Europe House (curated by body>data>space) in 2012 and as part of the “Intuition and Ingenuity” Turing Centenary touring exhibition. The current research is kindly funded by The Arts Council England.
A new robot (above) is currently in development called “My New Robot Companion”, funded by Arts Council England and University of Hertfordshire and both versions will to tour separately to other venues in 2012.
“My New Robot Companion” (below) was previewed at the London Design Festival Digital Weekend at the V & A Museum in London 22nd - 23rd September 2012 to 19000 visitors (see photos here) and video below which features an interview with Anna Dumtriu and Alex May.
It toured to blinc Digital Festival in Conwy, Wales 27th - 28th October 2012. It is continually being developed and new exhibition opportunities are actively being sought. Contact us using the link above for further information.
The head is shown (below) on the “CHARLY” robot body, the latest humanoid robot built by the Adaptive Systems Research Group at The University of Hertfordshire as part of the LIREC project.
LIREC (LIving with Robots and intEractive Companions) is a European funded (FP7) research project exploring how we can live with digital and interactive companions. The project explores how to design digital and interactive companions who can develop and read emotions. It brings together the world of ethology, social science, design & computer science to design future real world applications today. LIREC is a collaboration between six universities, two research institutes and two companies spread across 7 European countries.
