JitterBot - A Dialog in Dance

JitterBot - A Dialog in Dance is an interactive video installation that allows visitors to dance with a virtual robot.

Dimensions: 8 ft x 6 ft x 8 ft
Materials: Computer with custom software, video projector, Kinect interface

Showings:

  • Aglow: Cyber and Fiber, Boston CyberArts at First Night Boston, Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA, Dec 31, 2015

  • COLLISION18:present, Boston CyberArts Gallery, Boston, MA, Nov 09 to Dec 16, 2012

This piece explores the threshold of leading/following in dance, allowing the participant to have a dialog with a technological being, using their bodies as the means of communication.

The user chooses a song by raising an arm and pointing to one of the seven original compositions. The computer uses a motion-tracking interface and custom software to select the music.

The user is invited to dance along with JitterBot, the red robot. The user's movement is observed using the tracking interface and displayed on a projection surface as the green robot. Sometimes JitterBot follows the visitor's lead, and sometimes JitterBot busts a move on its own for the visitor to follow.

The installation uses the Microsoft Kinect sensor, allowing real-time full-body 3d motion capture. A layer of custom software interprets the 3d skeleton of the viewer and renders a stylized human form, the green robot. The movement of the red robot is driven partially by the viewer's motion, but it is also driven by a library of canned moves to give a sense of autonomy. The two robots are rendered as a series of elongated spheres using OpenGL. The resultant video image is projected on a screen on the wall, and the accompanying music is played through speakers.

JitterBot uses OpenFrameworks, an open-source C++ library for creative coding.

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