Three members of MIT’s Media Lab may be shaping the way the next generation of storytelling evolves. What would these new storytelling technologies look like, you ask? “The team envisions a future that includes robotic actors and improved motion capture, but also increased democratization and participation, so that stories are told not just by individuals, but by entire communities.”
Robotic actors, eh? Remember when Toyota’s Trumpet Playing Robot was doing its first holiday concert performance, and I predicted that robots would infiltrate every sphere of human culture before destroying us? Well, guess what, guys…it’s happening. Color me Nostradamus.
Even besides the fact that I predicted this, I suppose it comes as little surprise. We have robotic actors in movies already (I’m thinking T-Rex in Jurassic Park, not Keanu) but the future may see more intelligent robots filling roles traditionally reserved for humans. Or perhaps robots will play robot characters, which would be really cool. Imagine Wall-E IRL.
Robotic actors are just part of the equation — the MIT group’s plans focus mainly on the interactive aspects of storytelling. “By applying leading-edge technologies to make stories more interactive, improvisational and social, researchers will seek to transform audiences into active participants in the storytelling process, bridging the real and virtual worlds, and allowing everyone to make their own unique stories with user-generated content on the Web.” If this means a movie script tantamount to a series of YouTube comments, then no thank you, MIT. But robot actors are A-OK.
Plans are in order for a 14-soundstage complex to be built in Plymouth, Massachusetts circa 2010. This studio will likely produce ..er.. productions based on the research from Media Lab. It will be interesting to see what they come up with, and how quickly this erodes western civilization.

[io9]

This mechanical elephant is stunning, from tail to trunk. It was built over the course of three and a half months by Andrew Chase. The whole deal weighs 85-pounds and the elephant automaton is made out of “transmission parts, electrical conduits, plumbing pipes and 20-gauge cold rolled steel.”

The elephant is part of a book he is writing, called the Robot Trionic Morphatractable Engineer. It’s just stunning. Like something out of a Techno-Fantasy novel.

[Book Of Joe]

We told you about Eric Joyner awhile back. If you liked what you saw then check out his new book Robots & Donuts. Awesome stuff.

[Amazon]

Some dude likes Gundam a whole lot. So much, that he created this Styrofoam monstrosity. Pretty awesome.

[Dinosaurs and Robots]

Here’s a cool ad for a robotic surveying system. Very nicely done.

[Flickr]

It takes a truly great artist to harness the power of the fly. What if you could trace a housefly’s path as it flies about your home with a trail of ink? That’s pretty much what this art installation does. It’s a robot arm connected to a sensor chamber that has some kind of fly-luring power. When a fly is inside the chamber, the arm jerks in time to the fly’s movements, and traces a chaotic drawing on a huge reel of paper. When the fly leaves, the paper scrolls, so the artwork is constantly evolving. It’s by artist David Bowen and it’s pretty fascinating stuff. Hit the link for a video.
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Bjoern Schuelke’s interactive sculptures will mesmerize you with whirling propellers and twitching legs, but you are actually the one being studied. They’re armed with tiny cameras and stare back at the viewers, quietly recording.

The sculptures also feature motion sensors that allow the robots to identify and take aim at humans in the room, displaying their target on small built-in screens. One interesting piece, the Tribble like “TV-Pirates” will find those who are walking around and put them on the small TV-screens.

[io9]

Dyson makes a mean vacuum, but it turns out that the vacuum actually makes a pretty awesome robot as well. Artists contributing to Worth1000.com’s “Rejected Transformers 6″ contest created some Transformer-like bots out of unlikely things, including shopping carts, pots and pans, hi-fi sound equipment, wood and more. Good stuff. Hit the link for more.

[Worth1000] VIA [Dvice]

Chris O’Shea built this robotic mirror installation along with Random International. The installation of 64 mirrors is called “Audience.” The mirrors follow people around that they find interesting, allowing their target to see their own reflection at all angles.

When the they get bored, they go back to mingling among themselves once again. When another human approaches, they stop talking and mingling and go back to staring at that person. You know, if the person is interesting. So it’s like real life and our adoration of celebrities. Video below.
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Robots and monsters don’t usually get along, but when they get together they can make things happen. RobotsAndMonsters.org is a “charitable menagerie” of original robot and monster art. That means that for the price of $50, you can get a 6″ by 6″ piece of original robot or monster artwork, done by several artists. Most of the money goes to charity. It will be a beast or bot defined by three words of your choice. The one above is called “Roughrider” and was born from the words cowboy, eyeballs, and jaunty. Pretty wacky and wild.

The charity for this quarter is the Electronic Frontier Foundation, defenders of your rights to make legal backups of DVDs…that you have legally purchased. Last time they raised $11,890 for the SF AIDS Foundation.

[Robotsandmonsters]