★ 004. it's time to dance

After switching groups and joining with two other groups to make one big team, we were given an even harder problem to solve. We have to make our robots dance! I'm glad we were able to switch groups and work together in an even bigger team than before, it's a great opportunity to know more people amongst the class.

Our class was divided into 4 teams, with each team given a video to base the dance off. The video we have to base our performance off is this one, from a musical called Stomp. In addition to the robots being able to dance, we also concluded that the robots itself should be the ones to create the rhythm, or the "music", rather than having a track playing in the background. That would defeat the purpose of the production, since besides dance, the video is also heavily dependent on sound. It is both visual and audio mixed together that the musical is able to capture it's audience, and we didn't want to take that away.

After a long discussion, we realised that dancing wasn't the only element in the video. We broke down the main ideas into three:

- Rhythm/Music
The beat the is base of the whole production. Providing sound through such simple objects (in this case, a bucket with pebbles hanging off the side), the beat is catchy and draws people into it. Stomp is a musical, so music plays a huge role within it.

- Synchronisation/Interaction
The dancers in Stomp were all in sync with each other, which allows the beat to sound controlled and steady. Interaction also plays a big role, we decided that in order for our production to actually seem like a production, there has to be interaction between robots. No one can produce a whole show by themselves, and the dancers in the video clearly interacted with one another.

- Setting
And finally, the setting of the stage. We realised that Stomp had a very industrial-like environment - there were no fancy materials or objects used, they were all just everyday objects that could be found anywhere. The setting also seemed a bit "rusty", suggesting that they were more lower-class. As the robots will be performing, the stage is a very important factor, and we want out robot production to portray the same feeling as the Stomp musical.

After a long discussion, we separated in our three sub-groups, with each group working on a robot that could contribute to the production. Our group decided that we wanted a robot that was like a "drummer", who could provide a basic beat for the performance. Attaching a "T" shaped lego piece onto a motor, we programmed it to spin. We tested it... and it worked! As long as the robot was at the right distance, the motor would spin at a constant speed and hit the object (which would act as a drum) lightly, creating a steady beat.

Within our team we also had two other robots, one which could push objects easily as it moved along, and another which was able to pick up objects while moving. Both these robots had the ability to move objects, which could easily act as the interacting devices.

We're getting there, getting there! ;)