★ 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.

★ 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 :)

★ 006. not complete without a stage

Considering the discussion we had on Monday, we figured that it would be too hard to get everyone take part in every little detail of the project. Rather than staying in our original three groups, we joined together an assigned out different roles to different people.

✖ Programming/Robot Designing
- for those that is more familiar with the programming and constructing the robot so that it is able to create sounds
✖ Stage Design/Constructing
- for those that want to express their creative side through visual arts
✖ ...and people who took part in a little bit of everything
- for those that want to do a bit of this and that

The proved to be a good approach to the brief -- everyone was able to take part in the project with a task they were comfortable and confident in. Separating the tasks also made things easier for everyone, each group could concentrate better on their own task without having to take their attention away suddenly to focus on something else.

I was in the group put in charge of Stage Design, which I was particularly happy with, since I am more of a visual type person than a robotics type. We analysed the video of Stomp for a few times, trying to brainstorm for ideas on what we could do to recreate their stage, but with our own interpretation to it. Stomp had a very industrial and worn out setting, in which they used everyday objects such as barrels and buckets to create music. In other words, they used objects which could even be counted as "trash". Seeing as our performers were robots and not regular people, so... why not use "robot trash"?

So, what does "robot trash" define as? Basically, useless electronic parts, since the robot itself is an electronic device. We took apart an old computer for starters. Then it was up to the Stage Design group to design the floor and backdrop of the stage. The idea of "circuits" (the lines/pattern) on a motherboard sprouted when Lina and I were designing the poster together -- we wanted to stick to the robot theme and some thinking, we came up with the idea. Analysing the computer parts a bit more thoroughly, we had a basic idea of what we wanted to do. After expressing our idea to the other members part of Stage Design, the idea was well received and we went onto figuring out how we were going to make this idea into reality.

Starting from the basics, we thought of colours which would be appropriate to use. We wanted to use the combination of black and silver for the backdrop. We were inspired by the amount of empty coke/beer cans everyone bought in to contribute as musical instruments -- the shiny silver bottom was eye catching, (which led us to spray painting the cans fully silver as a result) and the cans could act as a representation of the barrels from the Stomp video we analysed. We had originally planned to use silver as the background colour and black circuit lines, but due to the cost of materials, we opted to invert the colours, using black as the background and silver for circuit lines. The decision was a good one, and from that we were able to easily design the floor. To show a positive-negative theme, we used white paper with black tape to create the circuits.

The constructing of the stage wasn't hard, however it was time consuming. Even so, the stage came out being simple, yet effective on the audience, and at the same time, rather than copying the actual setting of Stomp, we were able to put a bit of creativity into it and interpret it the way we wanted. I'm happy with how the stage looks so far, can't wait to add more to it!

what we had achieved in about 2 days :)

★ 005. through different eyes

Rather than staying in our individual groups, we decided to come together and brainstorm ideas as a team. We analysed the robots we created before the weekend to see what kind of part they could provide. We wanted at least one robot to act as the metronome which could create a steady beat for the duration of the performance. If the robot was to have a spinning motor like we originally planned, if would have to be stationary for the entire performance, and the "drum" would also have to be stationary as well. This caused quite a bit of trouble for us, for there were limitations to this method, such as:

✖ less interaction/movement between robots/characters, which is one of the major factors of Stomp
✖ we would have to make sure the robot nor the drum/bucket moves for the whole time, which gives less space for the other two robots to move
✖ adding to the point above, we'd have to make sure the other two robots do not come in any contact with the metronome robot, in case it moves the position of either the robot or drum/bucket in anyway. This proved to be quite hard since we cannot be exactly sure how the robots will move during the performance, even if we had perfected the scene during a practice run.

We also noticed that it was quite hard for the robots to physically pass objects to one an other, as they had to, well, have a brain. No matter how well we programmed it to pass objects and catch them, it was never going to be perfect every time. So we tried to come up with different approaches. We thought of a few ways in which the robots could produce sound:

✖ Drumming an object (like a bucket) constantly
✖ Adding rice to a container and get one of the robots to hit it/shake it
✖ Lifting objects up and down
✖ Using the wheels as a sound device

This was the first project in BCT which required us work together as such a huge group. We received a lot of different opinions as a result, and although there were times in which not everyone agreed on, it was a good way of accumulating different ideas and opinions from different perspectives. Thus we were able to gather all the best ideas and put them together.

★ 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! ;)

★ 003. advanced bot!

Today, we showcased our robots!

As yesterday's programming didn't go according to plan, we had to quickly programme a set of movements this morning for Mr T to run on. In the span of about 40mins, we programmed in some moves for Mr T, (following our protocol of course), hoping it would reach the final destination. However, we underestimated the distance of each step we programmed and it moved to the right side too much, so Mr T eventually crashed into the wall as soon as it reached the hallway. We didn't realise that the robot sucked up the life of the batteries so fast, so while everyone else's bots went at a steady pace, ours strolled slowly along. (Slow and steady wins the race, right?)

What I particularly liked about today's task was seeing the robot everyone built and designed. Each group had their own way of building the robot, and it really gave us a different perspective of looking at the robot. I particularly liked one group that attached a ball on the end of their robot for support.

After that, we had more programming to do! Rather than planning out a whole route for our bots, we had to make sure it could adapt to it's surroundings. So if it was about to crash into a wall, the bot should automatically sense the wall and then choose a different path to walk.

It was definitely challenging, but because we almost had that figured out yesterday, we focused more on the appearance of Mr T. We rebuilt it, fiddling around with the parts and creating a whole new look. We tried out a lot of different ways to build Mr T so that it would look more intimidating, since Mr T is supposed to intimidate the opponent. Some changes didn't follow through the way we wanted it to -- for example, we added an extra wheel at the back for more support, but the tyre had a hard grip which made it hard for our robot to turn.

In the end we finally decided on something we were all satisfied with. Just a few more tweaks with the programming, and Mr T is ready to go!

★ 002. mr t in action

So today... we played with Lego!

Our task was to build our very own Lego robot, which included programming it to get from the entrance of our building to our studio room. But of course it isn't that easy -- this robot is supposed to be our chess piece from last week. It moves the way we had designed the protocol.

The building was not hard at all, it was fun. The programming however... was a lot harder than I expected. (And on the box it says ages 10+ ...hmm, you'd have to be a very smart 10 year old to understand this). It took me a while to understand, but I've gotten the hang of programming very basic movements. However I'm still quite confused about the more complicated stuff.

We basically had to figure out ourselves how the programming worked, and sometimes even when the programming made sense on the screen, our robot would move in a way we didn't understand. We had a lot of trouble, but not a lot of time. I would've preferred it if we were taught how to programme the robot rather than learning by ourselves, we would have learned faster and wouldn't be as confused. We weren't the only ones in this situation, a few other groups had trouble figuring it out as well. This was a very challenging task, and only tomorrow will we find out if Mr T can make it to it's destination...

★ 001. the past week

So after a week of trying to figure out why my blog wouldn't work like everyone else's ... the answer was simple. All I needed was to post one entry and my blog would have worked. Hmm, maybe it does help to read all instructions and not half the manual.

The tasks in the past week allowed us to interact with one another, with the first one being Social Networking. This task was simple, we answered questions as we went along, written them up on post-it notes, linking them with our name on the wall. Later, we were told to link together all the similarities. Although the task was very simple, we were able to very easily see the similarities between each other. It was an easy way to collect a large amount of data and present it in a way which was visually pleasing to the eye.

In the second task, Situational Shuffle, we were split into teams of four. After deciding roles, we were given a deck of cards with instructions on them, and told to walk around city as the cards say, documenting and tracking as we went along. My group finished the task in about two hours, quite a long time, but the it was quite enjoyable.

My Reflective Statement --

Confusion. Awkwardness. Exhaustion.

Mixed feelings felt within a span of two hours. The task was simple — follow a set of instructions until there were no more instructions to follow. It was confusing at first, “what was the purpose?” Then as soon as we started walking around, it was awkward. Following tattooed men, chalking on the ground wherever we ended up… The people around us became confused. And of course, it was a quite tiring. A lot of walking was involved. There were restrictions. We were not allowed to change the given instructions, and we needed to be patient.

But despite that, we learned to communicate with each other and work together. We had to work as a group, even if it meant leaving our comfort zone to work with new people. There were also a few people we had to look for, objects we had to pick up, cars we had to count… Using our eyes, we visually observed the surroundings around us, in every different location we ended up at. We noticed things around us that we would not normally have noticed. Downtown suddenly seemed a lot bigger.

The third and final task challenged our creativity the most. We were told to create a brand new chess piece, including the name, the shape, the characteristics, and of course, the movements. We were to come up with a brand new protocol that would be relevant in modern day chess. Our first idea was "The Ninja" -- it can move in any direction possible, however only two squares a time. The Ninja's special ability is that it is able to disguise itself as the first opposing chess piece it takes out, moving as that chess piece would for the rest of the game. As The Queen has the most powerful movements, the player would then have to plan very carefully in order to be able to trap The Queen and taking it out with The Ninja. Taking out a Pawn with The Ninja would be very unwise.

However we were told later that we should only focus on the movements of the protocol and not how it interacts with other chess pieces. We realised that two squares did not meet the minimum required three squares, so we came up with a new protocol. "Mister Tee" can only move forwards, backwards, left or right, advancing three squares and then one more square to either the left or the right, created the letter "T".

We were then told that we were to move as our chess piece would move, from Britomart back to Aotea Square. Not only did this task allow us to create something new, it also teaches us to apply creativity into everyday situations. Luckily, our chess piece did not have any particular fancy moves such as moving diagonal or jumping over squares. With the rule that one square = one block in the city, we took the easiest route and found ourselves at our destination in a bit over half an hour. Not bad for having to walk with restrictions.

Test!

testing!