- Title: AUSTRALIA: LOVE-SICK WHEELCHAIR ROBOTS SET TO FOLLOW ART AUDIENCES IN SYDNEY.
- Date: 13th August 2004
- Summary: (L!2) SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (AUGUST 13, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) ROBOTIC WHEELCHAIR CALLED 'FISH' MOVING TOWARD ARTIST, DR. MARI VELONAKI MARI WALKING BACKWARDS WHEELCHAIR FOLLOWING MARI COMPUTER SCREEN SHOWING ROBOT'S MOVEMENT SHOES WALKING IN FRONT OF WHEELCHAIR VARIOUS OF WHEELCHAIR SPITTING OUT MESSAGE: 'DO YOU KNOW WHO RUNS THE WORLD?' VARIOUS OF MARI READING MESSAGE OUT MESSAGES LYING ON FLOOR ROBOT WHEELCHAIR MOVING MESSAGES ON FLOOR (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARTIST, DR MARI VELONAKI, SAYING: "With these two wheelchairs, we say the characters are disabled, but wheelchairs as an assistive technology. So they get assisted by the wheelchairs. It's a Fish and a Bird, but they are like robotic wheelchairs and they are trying to communicate with each other and their audience. And they write these intimate love letters and also they talk about politics and the weather." VARIOUS OF DR DAVID RYE FIXING ROBOTIC WHEELCHAIR BEFORE IT GETS SENT TO AUSTRIA CIRCUIT INSIDE ROBOT (SOUNDBITE) (English) SYSTEM ENGINEER DR DAVID RYE, SAYING: "People think it is a pretty neat system. They see this wheelchair gliding towards them or turning away from them. People seem to be very quick to attribute human characteristics to what is really software, electronics and mechanical components." WHEELCHAIR SPITTING OUT LOVE MESSAGE DR RYE FIXING ROBOT 'BIRD'
- Embargoed: 28th August 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
- City:
- Country: Australia
- Topics: Arts,Quirky,Lifestyle
- Reuters ID: LVACHWQIKSHS2FMSGJRD2QGCU3U4
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Two love-sick wheelchair robots will soon be rolling around art audiences in Australia - the work of a team of Sydney-based robotists and artists.
This wheelchair has been re-created as a lovesick robot which follows people around and offers up printed love letters.
The chairs use the latest in robotic technology, including a complicated system of lasers and hidden cameras, which sense objects and their movement.
They also have a database of words and phrases available to them to respond with messages. Artist Mari Velonaki designed the wheelchairs with scientists from the Australian Centre of Field Robotics.
"With these two wheelchairs we don't say the characters are disabled, but wheelchairs as an assistive technology.
So they get assisted by the wheelchairs. It's a Fish and a Bird, but they are like robotic wheelchairs and they are trying to communicate with each other and their audience.
And they write these intimate love letters and also they talk about politics and the weather," Dr Mari Velonaki.
The wheelchairs are part of an art performance known as 'Fish Bird Circle B-Movement B'.
They have been in development in Sydney for the last year, but as soon as the red wheelchair 'Bird' is fixed they are off to Austria for exhibition.
The team working on the robots are particularly interested in the human responses to the technology.
"People think it is a pretty neat system. They see this wheelchair gliding towards them or turning away from them.
People seem to be very quick to attribute human characteristics to what is really software, electronics and mechanical components."
The team will be developing the wheelchairs' capabilities further over the next two years.
The wheelchairs are already able to recognise the difference between adults and children, and adjust their language to suit. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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