FCJ-210 Falling Robots.

Lian Loke The University of Sydney [Abstract] Falling is not usually viewed as a desirable act for humanoid robots, as it can lead to damage and injury of people, things and the robot itself. This article explores how falling can be viewed as an aesthetic, creative, and indeed desirable act, through positioning it within the disciplines of dance and choreography. Strategies for falling safely in dance are compared with engineering approaches to controlling falling for bipedal robots. By this comparison, the article identifies two main areas in which an aesthetic approach to movement might be used to extend falling strategies for humanoid robots. Studying and categorising reflexes used by dancers and humanoid robots in falling, the article proposes that particular reflexes be used as common ground in developing a more communicative language for moving, falling and performing robots. Then, by playing with parameters of movement as dancers and choreographers do,…

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