The University of California-Berkeley's Automation Sciences Lab researches topics such as robotics, deep learning, computer-assisted surgery and automated manufacturing. But the program director, Professor Ken Goldberg, is also an artist who engages students in exploring how to use robotics within the discipline of new media art. The lab is currently experimenting with something called “robotic teloperation,” wherein they use a virtual reality headset, motion capture, and spatial mapping to inhabit the body of a PR2 robot. They recently posted some results in the form of a very thought-provoking video titled “Mind Meld”, starring one of the lab’s students, Zoe McCarthy.
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In it, McCarthy dons an Oculus Rift headset and grabs a set of motion controllers. McCarthy’s arm and head movements are networked to the PR2 robot just to her right, allowing her to control the automaton. But the experiment doesn’t end there. McCarthy also sees the room through the robot’s eyes via 3D mapping of the interior space. She uses this robotic vision to perform tasks such as picking up and dropping objects, but she also looks at herself at one point.
Watching the video, one thing is completely clear: while the virtual control of robots would probably come in handy for computer-assisted surgery and manufacturing, new media artists could potentially have a lot of fun experimenting with this technology’s possibilities. Just as BeAnotherLab and MIT created an installation that allowed users to “swap sexes”, some enterprising artists could create experiences where users imagine what it would be like to be a robot. In that sense, it calls to mind the misfired cinematic adaptation of the graphic novel Surrogates, which imagined a future in which people experience reality and their identities through robotic doubles.
The Automation Sciences Lab isn’t even close to a Surrogates-like experience, but that’s where a really creative artist comes in. They could create a dynamic exterior and interior space in which to experience robotic daydreams.
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