Robot Projection Mapping Project

Creative Director and Principal Investigator
Research + Demonstration Facility, Blacksburg, VA, 2012-present
Funded by the School of Visual Arts (SOVA) at Virginia Tech
~Awarded tenure in spring, 2016

This Robot Projection Mapping Project is an ongoing collaborative project with an interdisciplinary team I put together comprised of designers and engineers. We meet weekly to expand the range of engaging participatory visual environments through projection mapping with robotic manipulators. This group has sought out, developed, or repurposed new tools and workflows that can exploit volumetric space and time when coupled to existing audio/visual resources. This research is demonstrating how advanced numeric control tools can be simultaneously designed for use in real-time-rendered audio/visual environmental experiences. Industrial manipulators tooled with complex volumetric surfaces can be integrated with a larger spatial environment, executing digitally defined movements synced with projected imagery and discretely sourced audio that permit dynamic audience participation and experience.

As creative director, I developed the tools and workflows to expand the scope of human-robot environments. Computational feedback systems permit real-time open-loop tool communication, diminishing the need for discrete path planning and strict environmental control by introducing object-relation coding structures that adapt to conditional changes.

Collaborators: Chip Clark (College of Architecture & Urban Studies), Matthew Bender (Engineering), and Andrew Kurdila (Engineering).