808 research outputs found
A Review of Verbal and Non-Verbal Human-Robot Interactive Communication
In this paper, an overview of human-robot interactive communication is
presented, covering verbal as well as non-verbal aspects of human-robot
interaction. Following a historical introduction, and motivation towards fluid
human-robot communication, ten desiderata are proposed, which provide an
organizational axis both of recent as well as of future research on human-robot
communication. Then, the ten desiderata are examined in detail, culminating to
a unifying discussion, and a forward-looking conclusion
Robotic arts: Current practices, potentials, and implications
Given that the origin of the ârobotâ comes from efforts to create a worker to help people, there has been relatively little research on making a robot for non-work purposes. However, some researchers have explored robotic arts since Leonardo da Vinci. Many questions can be posed regarding the potentials of robotic arts: (1) Is there anything we can call machine-creativity? (2) Can robots improvise artworks on the fly? and (3) Can art robots pass the Turing test? To ponder these questions and see the current status quo of robotic arts, the present paper surveys the contributions of robotics in diverse forms of arts, including drawing, theater, music, and dance. The present paper describes selective projects in each genre, core procedure, possibilities and limitations within the aesthetic computing framework. Then, the paper discusses implications of these robotic arts in terms of both robot research and art research, followed by conclusions including answers to the questions posed at the outset
Can mimetics, a theatre based practice, open possibilities for young people with learning disabilities - a capability approach?
Whilst the significance of the social model of disability for articulating inclusive approaches in education is recognised, the application of capability theory to education is less developed. We consider how a particular theatre based practice, here described as âmimeticsâ, can alter and extend the aspirations and achievements of children and young people with learning disabilities, and might be understood as applied capability theory or âcapability practiceâ. Mimetics has been crafted from experimental psycho-physical actor training processes by Open Theatre Company working in collaboration with actors with learning disabilities, and adapted to support the learning and development of young people with learning disabilities.
We draw upon an action research project set up by Creative Partnerships with Open Theatre Company and a special school, where children demonstrated increased motivation and capacity for communication and socialisation, improved well-being, learning and wider achievement. To illustrate the process we offer the case of one child with an autistic spectrum disorder
Sensing Interpersonal Synchrony between Actors and Autistic Children in Theatre Using Wrist-worn Accelerometers
We introduce a method of using wrist-worn accelerometers to measure non-verbal social coordination within a group that includes autistic children. Our goal was to record and chart the childrenâs social engagement â measured using interpersonal movement synchrony â as they took part in a theatrical work- shop that was specifically designed to enhance their social skills. Interpersonal synchrony, an important factor of social engagement that is known to be impaired in autism, is cal- culated using a cross-wavelet similarity comparison between participantsâ movement data. We evaluate the feasibility of the approach over 3 live performances, each lasting 2 hours, using 6 actors and a total of 10 autistic children. We show that by visualising each childâs engagement over the course of a performance, it is possible to highlight subtle moments of social coordination that might otherwise be lost when review- ing video footage alone. This is important because it points the way to a new method for people who work with autistic children to be able to monitor the development of those in their care, and to adapt their therapeutic activities accordingly
Entering the Fifth Dimension: modular modernities, psychedelic sensibilities, and the architectures of lived experience
In this paper, we elaborate on the Fifth Dimension, an extraordinary, largely overlooked architectural example of 1960s psychedelia that was installed in a small Scottish resort town. Made up of 17 domed chambers, each designed to stimulate psychedelic sensory experiences for its intrepid visitors, the Fifth Dimension was the creation of London-based environmental artist Keith Albarn using his experimental âEkistikitâ modular building system. We argue that the qualities and impacts of this highly inventive, utopian âfun palaceâ interrogate stereotypical depictions of countercultural, psychedelic creativities. We discuss how they also intersect with current geographical scholarship concerned with sensation, play, and the built environment. Two key elements of the Fifth Dimension are examined. First, building on critical geographies of architecture, we focus on Albarn's innovative system to exemplify how pioneers of environmental design used advanced modular technologies to radically re-configure the possibilities of dwelling and working in flexible building structures. Second, drawing on aesthetic theories of the sensory, we demonstrate how the structure was designed to stimulate transformative psychedelic sensibilities as a novel form of disruptive politics to induce critical dispositions towards the built environment. Our argument is underpinned by the call for a recuperation of sensational and affective experience in the design and inhabitation of built environments. We contend that this bears particular significance for an emergent geography of play and enchantment
Unbecoming Cinema: Unsettling encounters with ethical event films
Unbecoming Cinema constitutes a welcome addition to texts that provide a film-philosophical perspective on films that otherwise take on and involve difficult subject matter, including in this case suicide, autistic worldviews, hallucinatory aesthetics and vomit-gore. The book in effect argues successfully and intelligently that even though hard to watch, many of these films can provide for viewers an opportunity to come to a renewed understanding of self and world. As a result, the author takes on difficult topics, but brings them to life in an exciting, philosophical fashion that also asks readers to rethink what it is that constitutes cinema
- âŚ