The Robotarium
We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.
Alan Turing
Robotarium X is a strong idea with a straightforward production: to create a confined and sunny space for a set of autonomous robots to "live" in. Adopting the aquarium and the zoo as models I wanted to build a similar space focused on the newly born artificial life, i.e. a zoo for robots.
A series of robotic inhabitants provided with the greatest possible autonomy were produced from scratch, then I designed a structure in glass and steel based on one of the Johnson solids known as Bilunabirotunda .
Autonomy and self-sustainability are the main concepts of this project, whose operationallity depends strongly on the selection of an adequate energy system. It made no sense to use batteries, with limited duration, nor to resort exclusively to direct electric connections, which reduce robot's range. Other forms of energy production, like the use of bacteria that generate electricity, although fascinating, are still in their first steps and cannot produce enough power for a behavior that the human eye is fitted to perceive. Ecobot II, a robot that eats flies and one of the most interesting projects in this area, moves at a speed of 10 cm per hour.
The option was the photovoltaic energy.
Solar energy and robotics make a powerful combination. Photovoltaic cells solve the autonomy question satisfactorily and endorses the general tendency for the use of clean and renewable energies. Solar power is one of the most practical and interesting solutions for the construction of autonomous robots. When compared with plant rate of exchange, its performance is already significant. In fact, the majority of plants retain, for their sustainability, less than 1 % of the solar energy they receive, while photovoltaic cells recover almost 15 %. With small silicon cells of 2,5 x 6 cm, in quantities that vary between two and four according to the species, robots can move, avoid obstacles and seek for the places with higher solar light incidence (phototaxis).
The majority of Robotarium X inhabitants belong to the BEAM (Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics and Mechanics) family, meaning a minimum of electronic components, a simple sensor/actuator system and solar power energy. With a small capacity for interacting with the environment, being the current species limited to the detection of obstacles and the search for sunlight, robots cannot do much more than move from one side to another. Provided that sun power is not completely absent, some of the robots are always in movement.
This low agitation is however not relevant. In this zoo life forms are slow, clumsy and unstable. They represent a primitive stage of evolution. But nevertheless we cannot avoid being amazed by its independent life.
To strengthen the idea of a new species I gave a Latin name to each type of robot. Fourteen species were born in a total of 45 individuals, named as follow: Acrorhinomorpho, Araneax, Bilurosequor, Bucinaderm, Cerahetero, Cursovigilo, Pendeopseudosaurus, Procedofrons, Protopedis, Reptumpacatus, Robotapondera, Superinflatus, Techmuris and Zoid.
This classification was based mainly on the morphological characteristics, which were determined by locomotion patterns and also by inner components. Although many of these robots present some similarities with existent animals (for example Araneax has the form of a spider despite having seven legs instead of six), the shape of their bodies resulted from adaptive conditioning. Locomotion modes were important, since associated to servomotors that demand a specific position. And, of course, the placement of the photovoltaic panels at the top were even more crucial.
Morphology was determined by environmental adaptation. If robotic components were left at sight, as it would derive from their condition of electronic and mechanical species, and if legs, wheels, threads and microchips were maintained without any coating, then it would be expectable that robots would be jammed and unable to move. Hence, a relatively smooth skin, was useful to work around this problem. All remaining lumps, feathers and horns, were also placed out of the reach of other robots. The body is adaptive and not decorative. The fact that the artificial finds similar solutions as the natural shouldn't be a surprise. Body building depends more on environmental conditions than on imagination, as seen in the next chapter.
In its essence in terms of an artwork, Robotarium X explores the relation between man and artificial life. It is a dynamic and "lively" piece that questions some conventional ideas about the artistic object and the notion of culture. The Robotarium X is not an installation - in the sense of contemporary art - but a manifestation of artificial living organisms. The shape and space configuration of this artwork is determine, jointly, by robots’ "perception" of the movements outside the structure and through random relations among all different species established inside it. Despite intelligence and the general sensorial capacity being small we can say that this "sculpture" is always in a continuous organic mutation, performing a sort of dance in which the choreography is constantly defined by the non-human agents themselves.
The Robotarium X is the first of its kind in the world. Soon there will be similar projects in many other cities and places. Following the dazzle phase provoked by the simulation machine, the next step in human-machine symbiosis will be the issue of cooperation. Men and robots will build together new urban environments and new forms of individual and collective existence.
The Robotarium X is an artistic vision of the future.
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