ROB 498/599: Storytelling with Robotics

University of Michigan
Wed/Fri 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Fall 2023
Course credits: 3
Classroom: FRB 1150 (Student Team Space)

INSTRUCTORS: Alyssa Emigh & Abhishek Narula
OFFICE HOURS: Tues 10am - 12noon Robotics Makerspace
EMAIL: aemigh@umich.edu & abnarula@umich.edu

Hello - Genco Gulan, 2015

Class Description

“Robotic art is the use of real-time computational technologies and techniques deployed for cultural purposes”. - Simon Penny

“Homo sapiens is a storytelling animal that thinks in stories rather than in numbers or graphs…” - Yuval Noah Harari

In this hands-on, studio-style course, you will learn how to create basic electronic circuits, fabricate custom mechanisms, and program interactive behaviors to create kinetic and robotic art works. Using personal, cultural, and political narratives, you will create poetic, engaging, and thought-provoking pieces at the intersection of technology, art, and design. The class will culminate in an exhibition to showcase the final projects.

This course emphasizes hands-on experimentation and exploration. The course is specifically structured so that you learn by doing. This process will not only strengthen your technical foundation, but will also help you explore the aesthetic possibilities of robotic mechanisms.

In addition to technical understanding, you will also explore the history of artistic practices and the various themes that have emerged with the use of electronics and other computational media in art and design. Broadly categorized under the term “new media art,” we will explore how other artists strive to create new forms and aesthetic experiences. In this course, we will aim to learn this language to develop, explore, and expand our own aesthetic sensibilities.