We are in an interdisciplinary adventure alongside international lecturers and fellow students with engineering and design backgrounds. Together, we’ll dive into hands-on experimentation, 3D printing, and the process of transforming digital data into tangible prototypes. I’ll guide you to adopt a problem-seeking approach, allowing us to capture and utilize kinetic energy from viewers and convert it into dynamic motion through the use of vibration motors.
Reflective Robotics & connectivity 2024
University course in collaboration within Aalborg University and MOME
In collaboration with Aalborg University in Denmark, under the guidance of the esteemed Elizabeth Jochum, (associate professor) leads the RELATE Research Laboratory for Art and Technology at Aalborg University. Her research bridges the visual and performing arts with engineering and human-robot interaction. Dr. Jochum is a guest editor for Frontiers In Robotics and AI for a forthcoming issue on The Art of Human-Robot Interaction: Creative Perspectives from Design and the Arts.
During this week-long workshop, you will immerse yourself in the innovative robots crafted by Renata Dezso senior research fellow at MOME Academy and Kalman Tarr doctoral candidate at MOME Doctoral school. During this week-long workshop, you will immerse yourself in the innovative robots crafted by Renata Dezso and Kalman Tarr, which were showcased at AQB Project Space in 2023 participating in the ABRA (Artificial Biology, Robotics, and Art) international project merging the realms of art, design, science, and technology.
2024 spring semester
The main goal of MOME’s one week long workshop titled “Reflective Robotics & Connectivity”, which was inherently a preview of the semester long KFI course, was to teach the students to be in a position of a reflective practitioner in digital object design and technology. Both the Hungarian and the international students from the Danish Aalborg University came in with a wide range of knowledge in robotic programming and digital crafting so their approach was intended to face new challenges.
The philosophical term stems from Donald A. Schon specifically from his book called Reflective Practitioner where he explains further the professional’s critical attitude towards its own craft resulting in self-development.
According to Dr. Renata Dezso, who is one of the teachers of the course, during reflective work, we embody a never-ending attitude to learning and experimenting, where we constantly review our efforts while we create to improve our craft.
Working together in these complex networks of technology, material, students and knowledge in a specific laboratory-like environment, testing and prototyping, is not an easy ride. Even though it becomes a strenuous experience only finding micro solutions, it also helps the learning process by making us fail more so we can accumulate a wider range of knowledge.
The workshop used a decentralized, creative approach based on group work and group knowledge, thus demonstrating a multidisciplinary path to robotics and creating in general, emphasizing the fact that robotic crafting is uncertain due to its great complexity. Furthermore, the course sets us up to teamwork rather than working as individuals since the future holds a collaboration-based method of knowledge creating to keep up with the fast pace of technological development.
Bori Fuge 2024. feb.
KEY WORDS
Reflective practitioner, active practitioner, reflective robotics, connectivity, reflection-in-action, microsolutions, decentralized creative approach
WORKSHOP WEEK at MOME Campus in 2024
Students from Aalborg University and MOME participated in a week-long intense workshop at the MOME campusű. The course lecturers are Elizabeth Jochum, Renata Dezso, and Kalman Tarr. Our fantastic students were: ViktóriaBiki, Bori Fuge, Amália Gerstenkorn, Marton Hunyadi, Lőrinc Bercel Nyulász, Balázs Antal Orbán, Lola Luca Orbán, Alex Pócsi, Aranka Adelina Vass
For the one week long workshop Dr. Elizabeth Jochum led the group in somatic imaginative mind and body movement exercises, almost like meditations, to easily understand the relationship between movement and perception, and the human body’s vital role in crafting robots. As she explained we explored the body from bottom-up, inside-out and outside-in viewpoints. We did exercises where we focused on our breathing, and on how to actuate movement that expresses balance. We experimented with fabrics and rod puppets animating them and giving them these basic creaturely behaviors. These games gave us a sense of understanding based on where we are in space, by the help of theatrical and improvisational methods. Thanks to these simple to comprehend but super thoughtful exercises, we understood the constant movement of the human body. It also reflected on the complex body movements correlating with soft robots where every movement can be and will be multifunctioning in interaction with the environment, like in many sentient bodies.
Dr. Jochum also pointed out the importance of corporal perception, or kinesthetic empathy, which basically means that when you watch people moving you always engage with them even unconsciously.. That in progress becomes a tool for understanding somatic acting-doing movements in robotics, ending up in a supernatural or almost unexplainable manner.
These activities got us ready to welcome and acknowledge the workshop’s purpose which lies in a problem seeking attitude, rather than in finding the perfect answers. Pushing us towards greater discoveries and seeking a reflecting-in-action attitude in our craft making.
Bori Fuge 2024. feb.