Author Archives: adkat

Interview, Psychophysics Machines, Saturn 3 |

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Some words on our work on Katapultura, Croatian National Radio

We missed the date of broadcasting, but luckily the internet remembers.
So here you can listen to our interview for Katapultura, the cultural program of   HRT – Croatian National Radio by Katarina Kolega about  Izlog Festival.
Some English, more Croatian 🙂

 

          

The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.

 

Empathy Swarm, Prototype, Residency, Robotics |

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First steps of robot prototype Kryten on the streets of Zagreb!

Just playing on the streets of Zagreb…collecting data with Adam Donovan, Katrin Hochschuh and Tomislav Pokrajčić ;)#emare #robots #emotiondetection #empathyswarm #hochschuhdonovan

Gepostet von KONTEJNER | biro suvremene umjetničke prakse am Dienstag, 26. Juni 2018

 

 

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.

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Empathy Swarm, Residency |

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Our EMAP/ EMARE Residency continues: Happy to be back in Zagreb!

We are back in Zagreb and continue to work on Empathy Swarm in our studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in the middle of the city center and with a nice green park to have a break from time to time.

Thanks KONTEJNER for all the preparation and fantastic hosting! Looking forward to having our newest prototype Kryten rolling around and soon some more swarm friends for him.

 

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.

 

PCB_production_sm_0003_exposure_Box00 PCB_production_sm_0000_transparency_Bag PCB_production_sm_0001_exposure_Box03 PCB_production_sm_0002_exposure_Box01 PCB_production_sm_0004_exposure_Box02 PCB_production_sm_0006_Layer 3 PCB_production_sm_0008_IMG_8549 PCB_production_sm_0009_Layer 1 PCB_production_sm_0010_Layer 4 PCB_production_sm_0011_freshly_etched PCB_production_sm_0012_cut_PCB PCB_production_sm_0014_Drilling_holes PCB_production_sm_0013_removing_Photo_Resist PCB_production_sm_0000_smd_oven PCB_production_sm_0001_smd_oven_motor_driver PCB_production_sm_0015_PCB_Motorcontroler_Robot_body PCB_production_sm_0016_soldering_Motercontroler
Electronics, Empathy Swarm, Prototype, Studio |

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Tool chain for next prototype is ready: from PCB-Design and Exposure Box to Etching Tank and SMD-Reflow-Oven

We just made the next step in the development of our Empathy Swarm project: We set up a working tool chain for the production of the next robot prototype!

While our previous prototypes Robert and Robertina had a lot of cables, we now dramatically reduced the number of cables by designing and producing custom-made PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards). This does not only increase the robot’s robustness, it also reduces the production time and complexity during the assembly of the individual robot – and imagine producing 100!

The circuit is designed on the computer in form of a black and white image where all the connections are represented in black while the gaps in between are white. This image is then printed out with a laser printer onto a transparency foil. This transparency foil is used together with a pre-sensitized positive photoresist PCB, which initially looks like an empty copper plate. In order to transfer the circuit design onto this photoresist  PCB, the transparency foil is fixed to it and both are put into the UV light exposure box so that all the empty ‘white’ parts are exposed while the toner of the black ink is preventing the exposure.

In our special case we designed a double sided PCB which can have circuits on either side that are connected through pins. It is necessary that both sides are perfectly aligned during exposure, which can be achieved by building a kind of bag from the transparency foils with transparent tape.

After exposure the pre-sensitized PCB is put into the etching tank until all the exposed parts are etched away while the shiny copper of the designed paths stays. When you can see light shining through from behind, you know that your board etched enough. We choose a quite thin board which we cut into shape after the etching process with a pair of scissors. The remaining photoresist layer needs to be wiped off with acetone in the end to make better soldering connections possible. Then the holes to connect both sides of the board need to be drilled and the PCB is ready for the electronic parts.

In order to reduce size and weight of the robot as much as possible we decided to become as small as possible and to use SMD (Surface Mount Device) parts. These are so tiny that it is difficult to solder them onto the board manually. That for we build a temperature controlled SMD reflow oven, which melts the parts onto the board for you instead. 🙂

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Psychophysics Machines, Residency, Robotics, Saturn 3, Sound, Talk |

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Talking about: Robots in Music at Izlog Festival

We started the second day of the festival giving a familiar talk about our work, the last night’s Saturn3 performance and presented the Mega Tautophone that we built during the 2 week residency.

 

          

The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.

(pictures © Tjaša Kalkan)

 

Projection, Residency, Saturn 3, Software |

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Face-Projection Experiments: Preparing for Izlog Festival – Saturn3

Preparing for Izlog Festival  and our Saturn3 Performance on 2nd May, 10:00 pm, we are experimenting with face-tracking and real time projections onto our faces.

Yesterday night we made some first tests, using infra-red light and a filter for visible light on the camera, to track the face and its landmarks in real time, while the projection was projected back onto the face, being visible for the human eye, but not for the special camera.

It’s a first idea of how it will be when the robots take over and transform Łukasz Szałankiewicz aka Zenial into one of them during the Saturn3 performance, synthesizing sound depending on his emotions.

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Interview, Psychophysics Machines, Robotics, Saturn 3, Software, Sound |

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Interview for Croatian National Radio

This evening we had a nice distraction from working: Katarina Kolega from the Croatian National Radio came to talk with us about our work, robotics in music and more.

She came at the perfect moment to see the first Mega Tautophone ready to go, could smile into the camera and let some emotions synthesize first sound experiments.

We don’t know when the interview will be broadcasted, but sure we will let you know 🙂

 

          

The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.

 

Empathy Swarm, Prototype, Robot Psychology, Software, Studio |

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Robertinas first steps towards Empahty!

Currently we are working on making our Robot Swarm  perceive humans. The vision sense of our robot is a camera; the robot sees its environment, but that alone is not enough. The robot needs to learn to differentiate a bit more.

Previously we used Python and could already detect emotions, but to be more flexible and have the possibility to have more control, we are porting our coding environment to c++.

With the goal to respond to human emotions the primary goal is to detect faces. In order to teach Robertina to identify a human face, we use the computer vision and machine learning libraries OpenCV and dllib.

And see what she can already perceive: That’s Adam and me and she can identify two heads and amazingly also our so called facial landmarks that play a relevant role in her future ability to actually perceive emotions!

 

Psychophysics Machines, Workshop |

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WORKSHOP: Psychophysics Machines Jam Session on 26. April in Zagreb

The workshop gives an introduction to robotics, directional sound and visual control ranging from working with mechatronic systems to programming in processing and VVVV to cross-communication using open sound control.

We give an insight into our artistic practice and participants have the possibility to engage with 5 robots and use the tools we normally use to have a jam session together. This includes controlling the movements of the robots, the sound that is played and a custom made visual mixer.

When?

26. April

Duration?

~ 4 hours, start 2pm – open end evening

Format?

informal meet-up at the gallery space,

hands-on jam session: control robots + sound + visuals

Where?

Student Center, gallery

 

          

The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.

 

Event, Performance, Prototype, Psychophysics Machines, Robot Anatomy, Saturn 3 |

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Saturn3: Performance on 2nd May 2018 at IZLOG SUVRE MENOG ZVUKA – Showroom of Contemporary Sound, Zagreb

Saturn3 meets Empathy Swarm

in collaboration with KONEJNER, Zagreb

As kick-off of our EMAP/EMARE Residency in Croatia this summer, we spent 3 weeks working on Emotion Recognition, Psychophysics Machines and Sound Generation.

Łukasz Szałankiewicz aka Zenial joins us to perform at Izlog Festival on the 2nd of May. He will be the first one to use our emotion system prototype live on stage as part  of our Saturn3 setup.

 

          

The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.

 

Curious Tautophone, Event, Exhibition |

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Curious Tautophone on Australia tour – next stop: PLIMSOLL GALLERY, SCHOOL OF CREATIVE ARTS, UTAS, Hobart: 20 April- 27 May, 2018

Soon it is the third time that Curious Tautophone shows. This time in Tasmania at Plimsoll Gallery, School of Creative Arts, University of Tasmania, Hobart’s gallery for innovative local, national and international contemporary art and design.

Opening event: Friday 20 April, 5:30 – 7pm

 

Plimsoll Gallery, University of Tasmania

Psychophysics Machines, Residency, Robot Psychology |

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Micro-residency Showroom of Contemporary Sound in collaboration with KONTEJNER from 18th April – 6 May, Zagreb, Croatia

As kick-off of our EMAP/EMARE Residency in Croatia this summer, we spent 3 weeks working on Emotion Recognition, Psychophysics Machines and Sound Generation.

This first stage will focus on the Emotion Recognition Software which we will use for Empathy Swarm during our main residency in June and July at KONTEJNER, Zagreb and Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka.

We take the festival IZLOG SUVRE MENOG ZVUKA – Showroom of Contemporary Sound as a chance for testing the Emotion Recognition and Sound generation in the format of our Saturn3 performance together with Łukasz Szałankiewicz aka Zenial.

 

          

The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.

 

Empathy Swarm, Inspiration, Prototype, Reference, Robot Psychology |

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It is so human this tiny little triangle: First ideas towards robotic empathy behavior!

Fritz Heider and Marianne Simmel’s analog overhead projector animations were already used in 1944 to demonstrate how easy it is for the observer’s brain to associate emotional attachment to inanimate objects and how our human brain is hard wired for compassion.

Empathy Swarm will transplant this from a digital to a physical environment by creating a swarm of robots that as a whole can adapt its behavior and interacts with the observer’s emotional feedback.

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Conference, Empathy Swarm |

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Media Art Worlds, Helsinki: a conference on hybrid economies of digital art

An inspiring and challenging conference in Helsinki asking real questions about the role and future of media art in Europe. Sara Cook gave an impressive overview about the history of media art and the challenges of it.

The conference was also the perfect opportunity to meet-up and discuss with all the EMAP/EMARE artists and organizations and to get to know each other’s projects. For the first time we also met the organizers of our residency from KONTEJNER.

Thanks for fantastic hosting to m-cult!

 

The work is coproduced at Kontejner within the framework of EMAP / EMARE and co-funded by Creative Europe.

(pictures © KONTEJNER)