An Audience-Responsive Robotic Performance Network

Colin Zyskowski, Maurício C. de Oliveira, Shlomo Dubnov

Abstract: This paper discusses the development of a networked robotic system created for musical performance via group and audience interaction. Exploring acoustic communications in a group or swarming setting is an emerging field of research that will allow robots to sense the environment and interact with each other using short range natural medium of sounds and vibrations. In this research we are specifically interested in group behaviors that could be elicited through primitive acoustic cues of directionality, distance, and gross frequency/spectral characteristics of the environment, and their translation to behavioral responses using emotional connotation as a semantic attribute. We consider the implications of a robotic network that can be used for experimental purposes of robot-human group interactions as well as adapted to artistic purposes such as installations or sound-art performance.