CYBERINA

Can a robot dance?

When a robot executes an algorithm that makes it move like a dancer, is it truly dancing? Is it merely mimicry of dance? And what constitutes a true artistic performance? These questions, and deeper issues of what makes art, and what makes us human, arise when we consider the many levels of what seems like a simple question: "can a robot dance?"

When a robot executes an algorithm that makes it move like a dancer, is it truly dancing? Is it merely mimicry of dance? And what constitutes a true artistic performance? These questions, and deeper issues of what makes art, and what makes us human, arise when we consider the many levels of what seems like a simple question: can a robot dance?

This project examines the implications of that deceptively simple question, and what considering embodied technologies attempting to embody artistic expression can tell us about technology, art, and ourselves. This simple question offers opportunities to not just question the nature of an artistic performance, and our nature as human consumers and producers of art, but also the limits of where technology, art, and humanity meet.

Cyberina is an interdisciplinary project led by faculty with deep experience in dance, technology, and philosophy. It is a collaboration of the Human-Machine Interaction & Innovation (HMI2) research group and the Sustainable Systems Laboratory (SSL) at Santa Clara University.