Acting Like a Robot: The Finale

We invite you to the closing events of our research project, Acting Like a Robot: Theater as Testbed for the Robot Revolution, on January 30 and 31, 2025, in De Paardenkathedraal in Utrecht. In this special collaboration of Utrecht University, Ulrike Quade Company, VU Amsterdam, HKU, and SPRING Performing Arts Festival, we have spent the past four years researching the intersection between theater and robotics.  In two workshops, we will share explorations of using insights and expertise from the theater to work with a KUKA robot arm. Friday afternoon, we will end with a retrospective and drinks.

Thursday 30 January: 10 am-1 pm KUKA goes Mime

Niek Vanoosterweyck and Marijn Brussaard investigated how Mime knowledge and expertise can be translated into robotics. What does this do to the robot’s movements? With the relationship between humans and the KUKA robot? In this workshop, Niek shares what it is like to work with a robot arm and the kind of interactions and insights this has yielded. Together, we explore possibilities for new steps.
Registration is required for this workshop

Friday 31 January: 10 am-1 pm KUKA goes Music

Stephanie Pan explored the potential of the KUKA robot as a musical instrument. Does the robot have the capacity to relate to music? Can KUKA create music itself? What does the KUKA’s voice sound like? And how do you compose music in dialogue with an industrial robot? In this workshop, Stephanie shares her approach, and we experiment with what you can do with it.
Registration is required for this workshop

Friday January 31: 2-4 pm Presentation of the results of the project
2 PM | Doors open

2:30 PM | “Moving Together A Performing Arts Approach to Relational Human-Robot Interaction Design.” Irene Alcubilla Troughton presents the results of her PhD project in the context of Acting Like a Robot.

3:00 PM | “Can we take this robot apart?” Maaike Bleeker looks back on Acting Like a Robot, followed by a conversation with Ulrike Quade, Koen Hindriks, Kim Baraka, Nirav Christophe and Irene Alcubilla Troughton.

4:00 PM | Drinks

We hope to see you in De Paardenkathedraal. Of course, you can also choose to attend part of the programme on Friday afternoon. Registration is not necessary but appreciated.

Maaike Bleeker (UU), Ulrike Quade (Ulrike Quade Company), Koen Hindriks and Kim Baraka (VU), Nirav Christophe (HKU)

See for more about our research: Dramaturgy for Devices

Acting Like a Robot: Theatre as Testbed for the Robot Revolution is a collaboration between Utrecht University, VU Amsterdam, HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, Ulrike Quade Company and SPRING Performing Arts Festival, and is financially supported by NWO (SMART Culture CISC.KC.205) and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, through an innovation grant issued to Ulrike Quade Company.