★ 008. lights, camera, action!

Finally, today was the day we showcased our Robot Stomp performance! We had the stage ready, and after one more test run of the robots on the actual set, we were good to go. The morning made me particularly nervous, all the work and effort we put into the project... will it run smoothly? I had faith in the programming of the robots, and I was confident about our set, so despite the slight paranoia, I was feeling quite good.

We weren't the only team that had a promotion poster -- in fact, all the teams did! The posters made our performances much more convincing, as if it really was a proper theatre based production. The group that produced West Side Story even had mini flyers handed to people, which I thought was a really cute idea.

We were the third group to perform. It seemed like we were the ones that put the most effort into stage design (which made me a little proud on the inside), so we took a while to set up. Backdrop, floorboard, props, lights, and even a little doorway composed out of an old table for our robots to enter. We were set. As soon as everyone had silenced, our performance was to start.

Lights, camera, action...!

From the "doorway" of the stage, Albert, Bob and Charlie came on stage one by one, under their disguises. Under the spotlight, our stage looked better than it ever did. They moved well for the first two minutes, not only surprising the audience, but our team as well. They passed each other with no problem the first few times, and the beats they created sounded very effective inside a silent room. But just like the other teams, our performance wasn't perfect. The robots soon collided into each other, which required of of us to physically step inside the barrier to separate them (we bought some long wooden planks in case that happened, but they weren't particularly useful in the situation). After colliding and un-colliding, the three robots did one final impressive spin (the sound produced as the robots scraped against the bucket as it spun was particularly noticeable) before we decided it would be a good idea to end it.

Despite the obvious flaws in our performance, Robot Stomp was well received amongst the judges and audience, and personally I thought it was a great performance. Everyone was able to see how much effort we put into this production, making sure it could be the best it could be. Each robot performed their own part effectively, even if their movements were not the greatest, they were great robot percussions. Albert lifted it's own bucket quite a few times, Bob's rice shaker was a nice additional touch, and Charlie's own beat proved it was a great metronome. Sound was a major aspect in the production and our interpretation was able to portray that.