★ 007. albert, bob & charlie

The stage is finally complete! We didn't add a lot more to it than what we had the day before, just a few more electronical scraps to complete the "robot trash" look. After spray painting the box silver, we combined it together with a unused keyboard, coffee machine, motherboard from inside a computer, a few silver bottles, and a couple of CDs as a finishing touch.

Although our group's main objective was to design the stage, we had to also interact with the group in charge of the robots and programming to see if the environment would effect their performance in anyway. At first we were a little worried about the electrical tape used on the white paper, what if the wheels gripped a bit too hard on them and the robots weren't able to move smoothly? After testing a few spins, twists and turns, it seemed like the worry was unnecessary and the robots moved fine.

One problem we struggled with earlier on in the week was finding a way to pass the buckets around from one robot to another, like in the original video. However, the programming guys came up with an amazing idea -- rather than making it act as a drummer and hitting an external object, the robots would be the instrument itself. And a bucket was to be put over it, completely covering the robot. So as the robot moved, the bucket would follow, creating an illusion that the bucket itself is moving along the stage, which was our own way of adapting the "sliding the bucket around the stage" movements as seen in the video.

Of course, we didn't want the buckets to completely be just a bucket. We had to think of a way to blend the buckets in with the environment. After another long stare at the motherboard, we noticed it had a few transmitters on them in cylindrical shapes. Perfect, exactly what we were looking for. So they were no longer just buckets, they were a part of the "robot trash", "electronic device". They were transmitters that would slide around on a motherboard.

Although the robots would be unseen under the buckets, different characteristics were still given to them, allowing to perform different sets of movements and create different sounds to give them diversity. Our final robots were:

✖ Albert - The Lifter
- Albert's main job was to lift up the bucket on top of it, which would create a tapping sound as it hits the ground, and it is also impresses the audience by what it can do. In the video Stomp, there were times when the dancers would lift the bucket and tap it on the ground repeatedly, which made it both visually and verbally appealing. Although we weren't able to exactly do what they did in the video, we wanted to give off the same feeling, and tried to portray that as close as possible.
✖ Bob - The Shaker
- One of our earliest ideas of an instrument that could be used in the performance was one where it would have to be shaken to create sound. A lot of us had this same idea, it was taken from a more verbal aspect of the video. Pebble hung around the side of the buckets in Stomp, which would create a "shaking noise" when the buckets were tapped. A container filled with rice was attached to Bob's arms, and as it lifted it's arms up, a very effective shaking noise could be heard. Not only that, but due to the length of Bob's arms, it is also able to lift up the bucket on top of itself. The dancers in stomp had similar movements/choreography, so we decided to construct our robots to be able to perform the same movement.
✖ Charlie - The Metronome
- And finally, Charlie, the only one that is not able to lift it's bucket off the ground. Charlie is the metronome of the show, it creates the steady beat throughout the whole show for the robots to follow. A nail is attached close to the spinning motor which has a small stick attached, and as the motor spins, the stick scraps the nail, creating that "tic tic" beat which is essential for Stomp.

Albert, Bob & Charlie with additional materials on them for additional sound :)