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]