Summary: We continue our discussion with speakers from CODAME's Art + Tech Festival, ARTOBOTS, held at The Midway in June. Part 2 features one-on-one, on-site conversations with robotics professor Amy LaViers, technologist and performer, Catie Cuan, and NPR correspondent, Laura Sydell. In this episode, collaborators Amy LaViers and Catie Cuan from the Robotics, Automation, Dance (RAD) Lab at the University of Illinois discuss their research on incorporating natural movement into robots, how dance plays a role in this study, and their performance piece, Time to Compile. We conclude the episode with an amazing conversation with NPR Digital Culture correspondent, Laura Sydell, who shares insight on how and why artists and criminals will shape the future of technology. Thank you CODAME for inviting us to cover this awesome event, and a special shoutout to Vanessa Chang, CODAME curator, for personally extending the invitation to us. You can listen to our interview with Vanessa Chang here. -About Amy LaViers- Assistant Professor, Mechanical Science and Engineering — University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Amy develops high-level abstractions for expressive robotic systems and study human-machine interaction. She lead two interdisciplinary teams toward this end: her research group at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Robotics, Automation, and Dance (RAD) Lab, and her start up, AE Machines. Amy is also passionate about teaching engineers to write and roboticists to dance and about bringing artists into the design of technology. This work applies to manufacturing, national defense, personal robots, entertainment, engineering education, somatic practices, and art -- to name a few! Tweet her @alaviers Learn more about Amy here -About Catie Cuan- Catie Cuan is an artist and technologist based out of Brooklyn. As a performer she has worked with the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Lisa Bielawa/KCET, Katherine Helen Fisher, Clare Cook, NY Fashion Week, and CATAPULT Entertainment, as well as Broadway choreographer Peggy Hickey. Her own choreography has been presented at venues and festivals such as the Actors Fund Arts Center, DanceNOW Raw, the Brooklyn Dance Festival, Zellerbach (Berkeley), NY Theater Barn, New York Musical Festival, and The Tank, where she won the inaugural XYZNYC Choreography Competition. Her passion for technology is evidenced by her previous work experience at Google/YouTube and Bain & Company before joining Color + Information, a digital creative agency, as Vice President. She is currently a digital consultant and avid VR researcher. She graduated with High Honors from UC Berkeley with a dual degree in Business Administration and Dance and was a visiting student at the University of Oxford, New College. Catie Cuan is also a 2018 TED Resident and ThoughtWorks Arts Resident. Learn more about Catie here Follow Catie @itscatie -About Laura Sydell- Laura Sydell fell in love with the intimate storytelling qualities of radio, which combined her passion for theatre and writing with her addiction to news. Over her career she has covered politics, arts, media, religion, and entrepreneurship. Currently Sydell is the Digital Culture Correspondent for NPR's All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, and NPR.org. Sydell's work focuses on the ways in which technology is transforming our culture and how we live. For example, she reported on robotic orchestras and independent musicians who find the Internet is a better friend than a record label as well as ways technology is changing human relationships. Tweet her @Sydell Learn more about her interest in artists & criminals here -About CODAME- Sparked by the network of creative coders, designers, and artists that Bruno Fonzi and Jordan Gray knew from around the world, CODAME was founded to celebrate their passion for art and technology. The CODAME brand of immersive, engaging, and out of the ordinary experiences was coined at the inaugural CODAME ART+TECH Festival in 2010 on a foggy rooftop in downtown San Francisco. CODAME builds ART+TECH projects and nonprofit events to inspire through experience. Follow them @codame Tweet them @codame Learn more here
