The Human-Machine: Possibilities for Expression in Robotic Dance

Abstract

Robots have been a source of both intrigue and anxiety for artists and a lively apparatus for study by scientific researchers for several decades. Though many people view robots as being cold, unemotional, and frightening, there is a growing field in robotics specifically focused on social applications including therapy, elder care, and the arts. Robots have been utilized extensively in installation art works and sculpture, but the performing arts have been somewhat more resistant to them. Machines which have all the technical abilities to perform tasks, such as playing an instrument or executing choreography without fatiguing or making errors, can be threatening to human performers who have honed these abilities and rely upon them for creative expression and their livelihoods. By synthesizing studies in the scientific field of social robotics, philosophical insight into technology and the arts, and case studies of robots used in dance and other art forms, I seek to provide an alternative point of view of robotic integration into performance. Robots do not need to act only as avatars of human beings, they can be effectively utilized in dance to expand upon the capabilities of the human body, act as automatic ‘puppets’ for choreography, integrate into human performance, and be ‘autonomous’ performers in their own right. Robot dancers do not inherently replace or devalue human artists; instead, they can provide complex insight into the understanding of human bodies, emotions, and technology.