Branchbots (for Noostopia)

Created for NOOSTOPIA under the direction of Martin Backes.

The Branchbots are robots made from tree branches that are central characters in the NOOSTOPIA theater / dance performance. The brief was to create robots that blur the line between nature and technology. I designed and fabricated the robots and built a custom control system for integrating the robots with the choreography of the dancers.

NOOSTOPIA Making Of video

Technical

The Branchbots were custom-built from German oak branches harvested from fallen trees and high-torque Dynamixel robot servos. Having previously worked with dancers I realized that I would need to build a system where I could control the robots in real-time during rehearsals while the choreography was being developed. I used a remote controller during rehearsals and was able to respond to direction from the choreographer and record sequences of motion that could be looped and manipulated in real-time during the final performances. Finding a way to get the robots to move across the stage when they are made from branches was challenging! Because of the real-time control I was able to improvise with each robot to find a way to make them crawl and turn and then record the motion sequences.

I wrote a custom motion control system using Python and mapped it to a standard MIDI controller so the robots could be controlled by the lighting technician during the performances. Since each robot was unique (made from different branches) in the more dynamic scenes they could start to wander off the stage!

Performances / Press

NOOSTOPIA, Theatre Bielefeld, Germany, 2020

“Roboteräste und pneumatische Pilze”, Bettina Weber, Die Deutsche Bühne, Germany, 2020 (PDF)

“In “Noostopia,” lying, standing, and walking next to the dancers, robot branches constructed as hybrids are on stage: Programmer Michael Ang collected the branches in the forest and equipped them with motors and joints, so they function equally as natural and choreographic objects.” – Bettina Weber