ArtBots - The Robot Talent Show

douglas repetto writes "Info on the participants in the Second Annual International ArtBots: The Robot Talent Show, to be held in New York this July, is now online. and there's lots of fun geek/tech/art candy. Participants include robots that draw, sculpt, and play musical instruments, as well as many with talents that are a bit harder to pin down."

Comments

Yeap...

[Kshu]

This is how everything started (http://www.terminator3.com/)...

Anyone know if a robotic artist is competing?

[nervlord1]

Does anyone know if Oman the robotic artist is competing, i used to be the webmaster for the Oman website but I can't seem to find him registered, can anyone close to the event tell me if oman the robotic artist has registered?

Scratch Robot?

[ericdano]

Thats a musical instrument? A scratch robot? I don't think so. Maybe if it did something like play a piano, but to scratch a record?

We are lowering our standards I think.....

Re:Scratch Robot?

[big_gibbon]

Grab yourself a turntable and some vinyl and give it a go - I think you'll be very surprised how difficult it is to play a turntable well. You've got to be improvise and keep in time with a far faster beat than you'll find in any other form of music, and have an excellent understanding - or rather feel - for how a particular sound can be manipulated by combinations of speed of movement and pressure. Contrary to popular belief, a turntablist doesn't just slam down a record and move his/her hand back and forth - it would sound atrocious.

That said, I suspect this robot wont be a very good player - it's creating scratches alone, without any backing beat, and there's no mention made of what sounds it's scratching over. Best guess is that it hashes your e-mail into some function representing speed and direction, and translates that directly to the motors on the decks.

P

Re:Scratch Robot?

[chenGOD]

While I agree with the gist of your comments (ie. a turntablist is a musician), I quibble with the "far faster beat than you'll find in any other form of music" statement. Turntablists generally tend to work in the hip-hop genre, and most hip-hop tends to be about 70-90 BPM, which is nowhere near as fast as death/dark/speed metal or some jazz tracks. Songs to improvise to, such as "Giant Steps" (Coltrane) and "Blues Etude" (Oscar Peterson) are pretty damn quick. Of course there are more, those two are ones that I happen to think of. Death/Dark/Speed metal all use fast fast tempos and the musicians generally have the ability to improvise solos (if they're any good).

Again, not to disagree with you, just to nitpick and clarify.

Re:Scratch Robot?

[theVicar]

You're suffering from a common misconception... Robots play pianos all the time.

Re:Scratch Robot?

[big_gibbon]

Definitely a fair point, and you're right to say that most turntablists work with hip-hop. It popped out because I largely listen to drum and bass, which is certainly over 100bpm, more frequently 120-140 or higher, and there's some very skilled turntable work going on there - so when I think "talented turntablists" I tend to think first of DnB artists, who obviously don't represent the larger part of the spectrum :)

Still, I listen to a fair bit of metal too (my first love ;), so was a little rash with the speed statement ;)

P

Re:Scratch Robot?

[airuck]

I agree completely. Scratching vinyl is the new urban equivalent of the mouth harp.

Imagine the remix: "Boing, boing, wicka, wicka, boing, boing."

Re:Scratch Robot?

[2short]

I'm sitting here trying to guess how many beats per minute you're talking about for a really fast beat, then convert that into megahertz... Well I can't imagine the speed of the beat would be any issue for the robot. Further, you need to to have an understanding of the "feel", but the robot can exactly reproduce preprogrammed combinations of speed and pressure.
I'd guess it is using your input as a random seed to choose preselected combinations. So I would guess it could be a good player, if the human who programmed it made it a good player. Not that I'd be able to tell, it all sounds like crap to me.

Re:Scratch Robot?

[chenGOD]

yes I think d'n'b runs up about 160-180 nowadays, non? I don't really hear a lot of turntablism (in terms of scratching) when I listen to drum'n'bass though (except for in Hellfish and Producer's amazing track -"Turntable Savage", but that's a lot of DSP fuckery). But that might just be my shite ears. :)

Re:Scratch Robot?

[ericdano]

Exactly! I can't see how it would require any talent at all.....

Re:Scratch Robot?

[big_gibbon]

Yep, have heard some over 200bpm but you're approaching insanity then ;)

If you want some decent DnB turntablism, poke around for stuff by DJ Craze, DJ Hype, or DJ Marky. Live sets are generally better for hearing the good stuff, natch ;) Plus One (of the Scratch Perverts) also plays some good DnB and will play around with the turntables a fair bit . . .

P

516 sensors?

[lingqi]

I am really sorry to bring this up, but this technology can probably be paired up with something like this for the most realistic (or, possibly good beyond realism) blowjob in the history of mankind...

Re:516 sensors?

[CausticWindow]

And what happens when WinBJ controlled RealDoll goes into a BJOD? Ouch.

Re:516 sensors?

[big_gibbon]

It'd be when some script kiddy starts probing your ports that'd worry me . . .

P

Re:516 sensors?

[Moses Lawn]

The doll is connected via an ethernet cable (up to 100') to your PC

You know, I can't imagine a situation more suited to wireless...

Re:516 sensors?

[Anomalous Cowturd]

So, it says on the Realdoll site that you can hook up various sound files to each "erogenous zone". That's cool.

You know, I have a lot of sound clips I've gathered over the years. Imagine mapping a Three Stooges clip ("Woop-woop-woop") to the left nipple, a Homer Simpson "D'oh!" to the right, "Hey Rocky - watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat" to the ass, and maybe the Jeopardy theme or "Heeeeeeeereeeee's Johnny" to the pussy. Combine that with vigorous bed shaking and wall banging, along with your own screams and grunts, and you can have some very confused neighbors.

talents - a bit harder to pin down?

[toddhunter]

So these would be the robots that are the most realistic artists then?

Tribblation

[G-funk]

I don't know about you guys, but I think the tribble robot would make a great children's toy, or a dumbed-down (and toughened up) version to entertain your dog :)

Re:Tribblation

[barbazoo]

I'm not sure I'd want my kids to play with Tribbles.

Re:Tribblation

[Moses Lawn]

Maybe this wouldn't work for a dog, but it'd be perfect for my cat if it was small enough. If something like this had the smarts to avoid the thing chasing it, it could keep a cat occupied for hours. All it would need would be the ability to roll itself back out from under the couch and it would be the ultimate cat toy.

Anyone else remember...

[Alien Being]

Mr. Rembrandt? I'm guessing it was about 1970.

happy feet

[tankdilla]

did anyone else see the happy feet robot and think of the Simpsons episode where Lisa tapdanced with the automated tap shoes? looks like that may be a reality now.

as long as a robot can butcher

[Savatte]

Alicia Keyes' Fallin as well as any 12 year old with a desire to be on American Idol, count me in!

Maybe soon they will have robots jamming on tennis rackets while one of them blasts old Beatles tunes.

I want a spambot

[jabbadabbadoo]

...that can filter my inbox. That's real art, man.

Re:I want a spambot

[Tenebrious1]

...that can filter my inbox. That's real art, man.

My filters work just fine for that... I'd rather have a pornbot that goes through and downloads high quality porn... I mean art, and filters out all that low resolution junk.

captured by robots (of the musical variety)

[dragoness]

There's a band called Captured by Robots that's pretty cool. The guy built a bunch of robots (i.e. the 12 string autoharp named "GTRBOT666") for his bandmates as he "didn't get along with the human variety" very well.

The music is eh, but the show itself is rad.

These are some pictures of the robots themselves: http://www.chromatic-fantasy.com/2002-05-04-captur ed-by-robots/index.html

(Yes, the robots actually play music.. )

-A

Re:captured by robots (of the musical variety)

[CausticWindow]

You should check out Pierre Bastien on Rephlex.

He's built an orchestra out of meccano robots, called the Meccanium, and it's not just a gimmick. It sounds great.

Re:captured by robots (of the musical variety)

[Fizzl]

Ack! Look at that expressions on the lil boys face.

I think something very wrong is happening there. I'm going to call the child welfare agency now!

Wait, I might be a bit late. :(

Re:captured by robots (of the musical variety)

[Fizzl]

And look at me!
Replying to wrong comment... Way to go! :(

Re:captured by robots (of the musical variety)

[chenGOD]

Indeed he should. Pierre Bastien is one cool dude. and I salute you on your nickname.

Fieldrobots

[oever]

At Wageningen University, a competition will be held tomorrow for robots to race through a cornfield.

Here's the site with a small movie showing a robot going.

Slashdot the robot?

[michiel.h]

I think someone slashdotted the scratch robot, 'cos he aint doin nothin.

Now, slashdotting the scratch robot isn't a big deal, it isn't alive, but what about the skin-robot one? Their inventors claim it's alive. Would we be killing it?

Are we murderers?

Are YOU a murderer?

Murderer!

"Give it time" or "The Evolution of BS AI"

[Anubis333]

With our current level of technology robots are incapable of existing in the art world. They may be able to create a useless, uninspired, simple meaningless object, scribble, or splatter, but they are incapable of the the silver tongued chaos, fraud, and illogic involved in passing off such pieces as anything other than what they are: sheer garbage.

Longest. Sentence. Ever.

CE

Re:"Give it time" or "The Evolution of BS AI"

[CausticWindow]

All art is worthless. The only thing that's really beautiful today, are the Doom 3 or Unreal 2 rendering engines. And Propaganda desktop themes.

Re:"Give it time" or "The Evolution of BS AI"

[Abm0raz]

fyi: the longest sentence ever is the final 60 page CHAPTER of the book "Ulyses" by James Joyce.

Try reading it sometime ... it's a bland stream of (un)conciousness that will turn your mind to cream of wheat, and not the good kind of breakfast mush, but the kind that is white with no flavoring other than the starchy grain and a hint of sour milk that has been pulled from a dying guernsey, left in the sun for 7 days, then sent to the kitchen to stagnate in the fridge until combined with the crushed heart of the wheat seed and boiled on a fiery stove ... (I think you get the picture)

(-1 off topic)

-Ab

Simon

[chia_monkey]

Oh my...
BR Does that mean Simon Says is going to be the annoying little judge that makes all the other robots cry?

Obligatory Simpsons quote

[Conspir8or]

"We got more gongs than the break-dancing robot that caught on fire."

--Homer, "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)"

i cant wiait....

[phatstyl]

for the sony symphonic orchestra. Nothing like metallic musicians on a woodwind.

Obligatory Bender reply.

[Dolemite_the_Wiz]

many with talents that are a bit harder to pin down.

You mean like alcoholic, kleptomaniac, robots that are benders of steel?

I know what you mean. How do you classify such a talent?

Dolemite
____________________

Break the scratch bot

[ToadMan8]

I wonder if we've broken the scratch bot yet. You know, like if it's backlogged with seven years of scratching to do from all the /.'ers e-mail. I don't think we ever pointed the slashdot DoS cannon at a musician before ;)

Not art, but bots indeed!

[Anonymous Coward]

Art seems to aim for the impractical, while technology for the practical. Those who think this is NOT art would be correct. Those who think that technology is controlling the creation of these works are correct too. What makes people think that this is art is that there is a revealing aspect to these bots. Take the cover off of a laptop paint the capacitors brown and green and call them trees -- this is not art. Some would call this modern art -- still, not art. To fully understand what these are one needs to understand technology and the control it has over people -- no one understands the ESSENCE of technology we are enframed within technology and any argument defining technology usually begins with "we use it to help us", "technology mearly extends our reach", or it is a "tool", etc. Art in a truer sense is the attempt to get to the essence of things -- in particular to the essence of our being on earth. Technology does not get us any closer to our essence, but further away into a standing reserve used to continue the advance of technology (similar to an oil reserve). The essence of technology reveals is not neutral or just an instrument of human control; it is an autonomous organizing activity within which humans themselves are organized as standing reserves.

-me

New Fall Lineup for Fox?

[RobSwider]

I can see it now...

Worlds Most Talented Robot

15 Seconds to Robot Fame

Who Wants to Marry a Robot?

American Robot

Was I the only one...

[rulethirty]

to see humor in the phrase... "Participants include robots that draw, sculpt, and play musical instruments, as well as many with talents that are a bit harder to pin down." ????