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What is a choreographic interface? Is dance for everyone? What is dance for? What can dancers learn from roboticists, and what can roboticists learn from dancers? What are some of the practical difficulties one encounters when programming a robot to dance? Why do robots break or fail so often? What are the pros and cons of using virtual reality to train or test robots? Why don't we see more robots in everyday life? What are some everyday robotics applications coming up on the horizon? Are humans still needed in the robot training process? Can robots create art?

Catie Cuan is a dancer, choreographer, and researcher. Catie is currently a PhD Candidate in the Mechanical Engineering department at Stanford University, where she recently completed a Master's of Science in Mechanical Engineering in Spring, 2020. Her artistic and research work focuses on dance and robotics. She is a 2018 TED Resident, 2018 ThoughtWorks Arts Resident, and the 2017-2018 Artist-in-Residence at the Robotics, Automation, and Dance Lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. You can find Catie on Instagram at @itscatie and on her website, catiecuan.com.

Staff

Spencer Greenberg — Host / Director
Josh Castle — Producer
Ryan Kessler — Audio Engineer
Uri Bram — Factotum
Janaisa Baril — Transcriptionist

Music

Affiliates

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Dances with robots (with Catie Cuan)

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg