Recent Works

Posted on

Morphing Machinery

DATE – 2007
DISCIPLINE – Art
MEDIUM – Telepresence robotic installation
STATUS – Displayed at DEAF 2007 in Rotterdam, Netherlands

As science shrinks machines to ever smaller dimensions and the evolution of nanotechnology becomes more refined our human perception of what a machine is will change radically. Due to the unique ability of nanotechnology to restructure itself on a microscopic level, we may find that our mechanical and architectural creations begin to resemble the organic more than the mechanic. Just as plants grow and alter there structures over time our machines, buildings and environments may in the future reconfigure themselves based on environmental and programming influences. Our cities will then become alive in a real sense as they will change and evolve in ways that more resemble the growth in a forest. This new urban landscape, filled with transforming machines and architectural forms in motion, is the thematic foundation of the MORPHING MACHINERY exhibition.

CYBERCITY RUHR
Anja Bardey
Christina Smith
Graham Smith

INSTRUCTORS
Rob Dielissen
Robbert Smit
Graham Smith

WDKA STUDENTS
Joost Bakkes
Michael Baks
Rick van den Berg
Suzan Dahmen
Noel Deelen
Elisabeth van Dijke
Mathijs van Geest
Teun de Graaf
Annemarie Hooghuis
Tarek Khalel
Dico Kruijsse
Sandy Mendes
Jero van Niewkoop
Erik Overmeire
Sander van der Pol
Afshin Shahidi
Dander Struik
Martine Taks
Hiko Uenura
Quin de vreede
Mariska Vogel
Lee Wessels
Kris van der Werve
Weronika Zielinski

Posted on

MOBI (Mobile Operating Bi-directional Interface)

DATE – 2006
DISCIPLINE – Art
MEDIUM – – Interactive robotic sculpture
STATUS
WEBLINKS

http://v2.nl/archive/works/mobi/?searchterm=MOBI
http://archive.turbulence.org/blog/archives/004086.html
http://gaggio.blogspirit.com/tag/artificial+intelligence

MOBI (Mobile Operating Bi-directional Interface), by Graham Smith, is a human sized telepresence robot that users remotely control to move through distant environments, see through its camera eye, talk through its speakers and hear via its microphone ear. Simultaneously a life sized image of themselves is projected onto the robots LCD face, creating a robotic avatar. MOBI allows people to “explore far away art shows, attend distant presentations and make public appearences from anywhere on earth, thus helping to reduce air travel and reduce global warming”. MOBI is at DEAF 07.

MOBI is a human sized telepresence robot that users remotely control to move through distant environments, see through its camera eye, talk through its speakers and hear via its microphone ear. Simultaneously a life sized image of themselves is projected onto the robots LCD face, creating a robotic avatar. MOBI allows people to “explore far away art shows, attend distant presentations and make public appearences from anywhere on earth, thus helping to reduce air travel and reduce global warming”.

MOBIs are mobile robots that can look, listen and speak, that is, when controlled by a user who is located elsewhere. MOBI stands for Mobile Operating Bidirectional Interface. Each MOBI is equipped with a camera, speakers and a microphone and allows the user to create a presence in another place. MOBIs are made by the Canadian artist Graham Smith, who has been conducting artistic research into telepresence since 1993. Of course we have long been able to make our presence felt in other places, in real time, even, ever since the invention of the telephone. Webcams are an everyday phenomenon, and lectures held via videoconferencing do not surprise us. But telephones, webcams and videoconferencing do not create a bodily presence in another space. MOBIs, meanwhile, enable tangible physical presence elsewhere. You can use a MOBI to visit the DEAF exhibition without getting out of your chair, and even to talk to other visitors. (Interacting with the art, though, will be a problem — for one thing, MOBIs lack flexible arms or fingers). MOBIs have a theatrical aspect in that the user becomes a performer before an audience of exhibition visitors.

<?center>

Posted on

Teleconferencing robot with swiveling video monitor

DATE – 2005
DISCIPLINE – Science
MEDIUM – Patent
STATUS – Assignee: Horizonscan Inc.
WEBLINKS
Patent number: 7123285

Abstract: A teleconferencing robot for enabling a remote conferee to project a sense of presence into a group meeting. The teleconferencing robot includes: a base; a video monitor movably mounted to the base for receiving and displaying an image of the remote conferee; an attention getting device for getting the attention of conferees in the group meeting; a control device mounted on the base for moving the video monitor and actuating the attention getting device in response to an input control signal derived from a remote signal generated by the remote conferee and sending an outgoing data signal to the remote conferee providing feedback to the remote conferee from the robot; and the video monitor and attention getting device move in response to the input control signal to enable the remote conferee to project a sense of presence into the group meeting, and to confirm the movement by the outgoing data signal.
Type: Grant
Filed: May 31, 2005
Date of Patent: October 17, 2006
Assignees: Telbotics Inc., Ryerson Polytechnic University and the University of Toronto
Inventors: Graham Thomas Smith, Deborah Ingrid Fels, Jutta Treviranus

Posted on

Sentient Creatures

Sentient Creatures DATE - 2003 DISCIPLINE - Education MEDIUM - Installation and kinetic art

DATE – 2003
DISCIPLINE – Education
MEDIUM – Installation and kinetic art
WEBLINKS
http://connected.waag.org/sentient.html

Each Wednesday from 1 October until 26 November 2003, the Sentient Creatures Lectures were held in the Theatrum Anatomicum of Waag Society. In this lecture series, Waag Society presented speakers with an international reputation in the field of robotics, conciousness and communication. The complete programme as it was published can be found here.

Sentient Creatures DATE - 2003 DISCIPLINE - Education MEDIUM - Installation and kinetic art

Sentient Creatures lectures series: Graham Smith – November, 26
In the last lecture of the series, Graham Smith, host of the lecture series, spoke about his recent robotic invention Pebbles, that enables ill children to be virtually present in the classroom, and the role new media may be playing in the evolution of new technological life forms.
http://connectmedia.waag.org/media/sentientcreatures/grahamsmith.mov

Sentient Creatures lectures series: Joe Davis – November, 19
Mr. Davis lecture was about his recent work with Cyborg sculptures and dna based artworks.
http://connectmedia.waag.org/media/sentientcreatures/joedavis.mov

Sentient Creatures lectures series: Kit Gallaway and Sherrie Rabinowitz – November, 12
Ms. Rabinowitz and Mr. Gallaway lecture was about their 25 years of experimentation using communications technology and the implications for the internet generation of artists.
http://connectmedia.waag.org/media/sentientcreatures/gallaway.mov

Sentient Creatures lectures series: Jaron Lanier – November, 5
Mr. Lanier talked about his new project called Phenotropic Computing, in which pattern recognition is used as a way of connecting components of software systems.
http://connectmedia.waag.org/media/sentientcreatures/jaronlanier.mov

Sentient Creatures lectures series: Catherine Richards – October, 29
Catherine Richards lecture was about concepts of Post Humanism and the role this theory will play in determining our relationship to intelligent machines.
http://connectmedia.waag.org/media/sentientcreatures/richards.mov

Sentient Creatures lectures series: Dick Bierman – October, 22
Prof. Bierman talked about the Global Consciousness Project (GCP). This project aims at understanding the unexplained correlations between global attention like what happened on Sept. 11 and the behavior of material sensors.
http://connectmedia.waag.org/media/sentientcreatures/bierman.mov

Sentient Creatures lectures series: Theo Jansen – October, 15
The artist Theo Jansen uses simple materials to give birth to wind powered beach creatures. Plastic pipe and air become ‘organic intelligence’. He lets his huge skeletons walk on the beach. This lecture was partly in Dutch.
http://connectmedia.waag.org/media/sentientcreatures/jansen.mov

Sentient Creatures lectures series: Rupert Sheldrake – October, 8
Dr. Sheldrake’s lecture was about the way the mind extends beyond the brain, as described in his new book “The Sense of Being Stared At, And Other Aspects of the Extended Mind” (2003). He discussed the implications of a field theory of the mind for sentient creatures, natural and artificial.
http://connectmedia.waag.org/media/sentientcreatures/sheldrake.mov

Sentient Creatures lectures series: Norman White – October, 1
White talked about his award winning sculpture The Helpless Robot, which asks for your help as soon as you come near it. White meant this machine to be able to assess and predict human behavior. It was built from plywood, angle iron, proximity sensors, a modified 80386 computer, and custom electronics. The result is a robot that speaks French, Spanish and English. Its synthetic voice invites people to move it as they like. White made the robot between 1987 and 1996.
http://connectmedia.waag.org/media/sentientcreatures/norman.mov

Posted on

Video conferencing apparatus

DATE – 2002
DISCIPLINE – Science
MEDIUM – Patent
STATUS – Assignee: Horizonscan Inc.
WEBLINKS
Patent number: 6784916

Abstract: An apparatus and system for improving the projection of a remote conferee’s presence and improving eye contact between the remote video conferee and proximate conferee during a videoconference is disclosed. The image of the remote conferee’s face is shown on a video monitor with a camera located along the eye level of the image of the remote conferee’s face, and within the interocular distance of about 1.5 inches to 3 inches. A feedback screen showing the image of the proximate video conferee is also located near the camera and preferably within the interocular distance. Because the camera is within the interocular distance the proximate conferee will appear, to the remote conferee, to be looking at the eyes of the remote conferee when looking at the monitor, because the camera is within the interocular distance. This will be accentuated when the proximate conferee uses the feedback image, which is near the camera.
Type: Grant
Filed: February 11, 2002
Date of Patent: August 31, 2004
Assignee: Telbotics Inc.
Inventor: Graham Thomas Smith

Posted on

Telbotics Inc.

DATE – 1996 – 2002
DISCIPLINE – Telepresence displays
MEDIUM – Commercial company
WEBLINKS – Company inactive
PEBBLES robot a classroom peer for ill kids, New Haven Register, 21 May 2002 


For Sick Students, A Robot with Class, Hartford Courant, 21 May 2002 


Robots help hospitalized kids with classwork, Connecticut Post, 21 May 2002 


Robot Helps Patients Stay Connected, News Channel 8 New Haven, 20 May 2002
http://www.research.utoronto.ca/edge/edgenet/blog/connecting-sick-kids-to-the-classroom/

Posted on

PEBBLES

DATE – 1996 -2001
DISCIPLINE- Science
MEDIUM – Telepresence
STATUS- Published in 8 journals

SELECTED SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS & CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
2001 TeleMedicine 2001 Fels, D.I., Williams, L., Smith, G., Treviranus, J. The Supply Student, June 2001, Montreal, Canada.

1999 Telemedicine Journal, Williams, L. Fels, D.I., Smith, G., Treviranus, J., Eagleson, R. (1999), Developing A Video-Mediated Communication System For Hospitalized Children

1998 International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, Williams, L. Fels, D.I., Smith, G., Treviranus, J., Eagleson, R. (1998). Control of a remote communication system by children.

1998 Internationaö Conference of the Learning Sciences, Williams, L. Fels, D.I., Smith, G., Treviranus, J., Eagleson, R., (1998), Analysis of a Video-mediated Communication System For Children

1998 Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineers, Williams, L. Fels, D.I., Smith, G., Treviranus, J., Eagleson, R. (1998) Creating An Interactive Supply Student

1997 Human Factors and Ergonomics ,Williams, L. Fels, D.I., Smith, G., Treviranus, J., Eagleson, R. (1997). Using PEBBLES to Facilitate Remot Learning , Albuquerque, pp. 320.

1997 Seventh International Conference on Human Computer Interaction Williams, L. Fels, D.I., Smith, G., Treviranus, J., Eagleson, R. (1997). PEBBLES: Providing Education by Bringing Learning Environments to Students. San Francisco pp. 115-118.

1996 CYBERG Conference, Williams, L. Fels, D.I., Smith, G., Treviranus, J., Spargo G, Eagleson, R. (1996) Control Of A Remote Communication System By Children

Posted on

Teletables – Liveform Telekinetics

DATE – 2001
DISCIPLINE – art
MEDIUM – Telepresence robotic installation
STATUS – Exhibited simultaneously at Interaccess in Toronto and the WAAG in Amsterdam
WEBLINKS
https://openlab.ncl.ac.uk/publicweb/publications/L-paper227.pdf

The LiveForm:Telekinetics (LF:TK) project re-imagines the familiar objects and utensils of our everyday social spaces as an electronically activated play environment, capable of transmitting over distance the physical presence and social gesture that comprise such a vital element of human interaction. Furniture, decorations, cutlery, doodads, and bric-a-brac come to life as both kinetic art and telecommunication interfaces, building a complex arrangement of movement and gesture. Imagine a shared creation, a social ritual, a dance through objects, an electric dinner-table that is played.The Liveform Telekinetics exhibition was funded through a Media Arts grant from the Canada Council of the Arts.
Created by Jeff Mann and Michelle Teran
Guest artists, Graham Smith, Jim Ruxton, Veronica Verkley,


Posted on

PEBBLES 2.0

PEBBLES 2.0 DATE - 2000 DISCIPLINE - Design MEDIUM – Telepresence STATUS - 100 deployed

DATE – 2000
DISCIPLINE – Design
MEDIUM – Telepresence
STATUS – 100 deployed
WEBLINKS
http://www-03.ibm.com/services/ca/en/mobility/work_pebbles.html

Telepresence display

Telbotics – PEBBLES
Remarkable robots create a “lifeline” for remote children
Challenge
For children receiving treatment for acute illnesses or injuries, it often means weeks or months spent in the hospital. Many of these children lose contact with what is going on in the classroom: homework can pile up, class trips may need to be skipped, and social interaction with their peers can be quite limited. All of these factors can add to the stress caused by their medical conditions.These young students often feel isolated and saddened by their predicament. Even after they are better, they may feel reluctant to return to school since their classmates may be confused by their mysterious absence.

Solution
TThe PEBBLES (Providing Education By Bringing Learning Environments to Students) project was the result of five years of research and development by Telbotics Inc. in cooperation with the University of Toronto and Ryerson University. The current version of PEBBLES has been redesigned and manufactured in partnership with the IBM e-access department. The PEBBLES project incorporates the world’s first robotic students whereby two child-sized robots help connect a homebound or hospitalized child with their own classroom. The child gets a robot, whose head includes a monitor and camera, in his or her room. At the child’s school, the second robot sits in his or her class and broadcasts real time audio, video, and documentation back to the child’s location. A hand-held controller allows the child to participate in the class by rotating the robot’s head and raising the robot’s hand.

Results
PEBBLES is easy to operate, allowing teachers to focus on the needs of all students. Students, in both the classroom and the hospital, love it. PEBBLES serves as a bridge for hospitalized children in facilities across Canada and the United States. It has been used in Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children and the Ronald McDonald House. In the United States, PEBBLES units are installed in a number of hospitals including Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital, Miami Children’s Hospital, and Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital. Each robot is engineered by IBM, balancing our outstanding technology with simplicity of operation.