A Human-Robot Interaction of ‘Care’: KUKA in an Encounter with the Performance Artist Daniel Simu – Stepan Laštuvka

Figure 1. Simu quietly hanging on the wheel of the KUKA robot.

December 2023

In this sprint event of the ELRAT Lab, the key guest, circus artist and performer Daniel Simu, joined to engage in an interaction with a KUKA robot. In response to the performance of Simu and the KUKA, the general aim had been to address the theme of human-robot interaction with a special attention to technical and artistic skills. More specifically, Simu is, amongst others, engaged in acrobatics, circus electronics, games, generative art, installations or juggling with an interest in “playfulness, patterns, interaction, restrictions, collaboration, learning, and many more things” (Simu n.d.). With these interests and artistic competencies, the key performers, including Simu, a KUKA robot and Rick van Dugteren who programs and operates the robot, developed three distinct sequences of an exploratory performance. In turn, each round of a performance was followed by a discussion that yielded a number of new insights, questions and ideas for further exploration concerning HRI (human-robot-interaction) through the lens of circus and performance art.

Each sequence involved alterations in the relational dynamics between Simu and the KUKA robot due to distinct patterns in movement as well as positions taken by the performers which stimulated renewed concerns in response. In the first sequence, the robot moved repetitively and close to the ground with a metal wheel attached to its end effector. Simu responded by holding, pushing or pulling the wheel, which created an expression recognised as evocative of the slapstick genre. In the second sequence, the robot changed the position of its wheel and continued with the same motion pattern now higher above the ground. In response to the first two sequences, the observers posed questions concerning how the performers express a sense of influence on each other. Therefore, in the third sequence, the robot changed its motion pattern to an up and down movement, and Simu came to hang on the robot’s wheel, in what had been termed as a ‘fetal position’ (see fig. 1). In this way, the exploratory character of the performance sequences and Simu artistic competencies in dialogue with the robot stimulated renewed concerns and interests. In particular, questions of care, vulnerability and agency were raised in response to the performance and the larger objective concerning interaction between a robot and a human performer.

More specifically, these questions were further elaborated on in the subsequent discussion drawing on observations of the performer’s contrasting features, such as weight, strength or the capacity to react and improvise. Firstly, Simu’s skills allowed him to take positions and perform movements in response to the robot, which evoked questions of vulnerability and care. The concept of care was recognised at the moment when Simu adopted the silent position of hanging onto the wheel. However, a sense of vulnerability had been evoked already based on the relatability to human physiology in contrast to the visual features of the KUKA, bringing about associations with the power of heavy industrial machines. On the level of movement and in response to the concept of care, the pre-programmed movement of the KUKA had been recognised as disturbing.

In contrast, when the KUKA was manipulated manually via a remote control, it conveyed an expression of thoughtfulness in the movement, which had been associated with a form of caring behavior. By extension, it was pointed out to stimulate a scope for imagination, inviting subjective explorations of what care means to us based on the interaction of the two present performers. In turn, this instance inspired further engagement with such form of manual engagement with the KUKA, which will be the theme of the upcoming sprint event. Furthermore, the performance sequences brought about recognition of how artistic skills (or potentially genre such as Slapstick or others) could help articulate specific concepts such as care and, in turn, open renewed scope for imagination in response to the dynamics of human and robot interaction.

References 

Simu, Daniel. n.d. “about.” Accessed October 5, 2023. https://danielsimu.com/about/