AUR on stage
In this spring's MIT Dramashop production of "Playwrights in Performance", AUR played a character part in a unique human-robot joint theater performance.
AUR had the title role in Rony Kubat's short play "The Confessor", a tale of murder, guilt, and miscommunication. The play premiered on May 9 with additional shows on May 10, and 11, starred Jonas Kubilius '08 and Laurel Ruhlen '06, and was directed by Kate Snodgrass.
The robot was controlled through a novel actor point-of-view hybrid control system structured around scenes, beats, and actions, and enabling the robot to react in time and make eye-contact with the actors during rehearsal and performance. This system is the first step in an ongoing effort towards a fully autonomous robotic actor, and this production of "The Confessor" was be the first play in which we test-drove our architecture.
A video of the performance will be available shortly, as will a short video podcast explaining how the system works. In the meantime, you can watch video highlights from the dress rehearsal
To find out more about the relationship between acting and human-robot interaction, please read HRI: Four Lessons from Acting Method (pdf).
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