Teleoperated Arm

©Adam Harvey

Sketch of interaction

©Artist as Citzen

In Collaboration With

Artist as Citizen

The tele-robotic arm was designed by Adam Harvey / AH Projects in collaboration with the following individuals and organizations:

• Artist as Citizen
• Daniel Arce Coding and Circuits
• Angie Tran Graphic Design
• David Gibbs Engineer
• Chris Neidl Coordinator
• 350.org Coordinator

This project was made with the goal of connecting US citizens in NYC to the climate change conference through the use of a real-time physical device. The robotic-arm in Copenhagen was teleoperated by participants in NYC who stood on a soapbox and initiated a dialogue with people at the conference via Skype. At the end of their statements, stateside participants were encouraged to hit a red button which activated the arm in Copenhagen and drew attention to their telepresence.

Locations

Here in NYC we setup the project in Union Square on December 16 and on Waverly and Broadway on December 18th. Passersby were encouraged to come hit a big red button and to deliver a testimonial about climate change. Despite the freezing temperatures, over 50 people took part in the experiment.

In Copenhagen, Chris Neidl of Solar1 and David Gibbs built a mobile display that allowed the arm to moved around at the climate change conference. On Wednesday, it was set up at the KlimaForum amidst a hectic mix of lectures and foot-traffic. And on Friday it moved to public venues in the downtown area of Copenhagen.

Technology

Since we didn’t have any information about the setup in Copenhagen until our team arrived there, we built the device to work wirelessly and accommodate any venue. There, the robotic arm was tethered to a laptop and connected in real time to another laptop in NYC. Because of potential WiFi issues, we routed our connection through a web server instead of connecting it directly. This allowed us to use any type of WiFi network, public or private despite its firewall or security restrictions. The robotic-arm was controlled with a servo motor, Arduino microcontroller and Java application built with Processing.

In NYC, we setup a wireless soapbox/hit-sensor that communicated to our laptop from up to 100 ft away. This allowed us to hide some equipment and keep the space relatively free of wires. For the Skype connection, we setup a flat screen monitor and and used a wireless microphone for the video chat.

Analysis

One of the shortcomings of teleconferencing is the lack of the physical involvement. As Eric Paulos points out in The Robot in the Garden, “the results are often stilted and unsatisfying.” In addition, teleoperation is shrouded in issues of trust; is what I’m seeing real or is it staged?

The NYC to COP15 project embraces a physical channel in an effort to augment the standard audio/video connection between two people/places. While audio and video can be passive, the action required to move the arm requires that the participant stand on the soapbox, hit the sensor and actively engage in the project. The soapbox works to elevate the interaction to a performance insofar as the participant is now more visible to everyone around them. And from my observations, the act of slamming down a fist halfway across the world was a satisfying and cathartic experience, drawing cheers and applause from observers.

Seeing the arm on a computer screen in Copenhagen did raise questions about trust. When our webcam view in Copenhagen didn’t include a crowd of conference goers or easily recognizable scenes from Copenhagen, participants here in NYC were less likely to believe the arm was there. When there were crowds of people in both places, only a handful questioned whether it was actually there. Those that did wonder, appeared delighted to find out it was actually live in Copenhagen. However, a lack of people and/or interest on either side or a view without anything noticeably Danish, did raise questions. As an experiment, this was valuable feedback for the next iteration of the project.

Schedule of Exhibitions and Workshops

• Dec. 20 ITP Winter Show
• Dec. 21 ITP Winter Show
• Jan. 12 PUBLIC Theater
• Jan. 22 RSID Workshop
• Jan. 25 Solar One Discussion Panel

For more information about this project, please contact Richard at Artist as Citizen