Theatre in the Loop: A Rehearsal-Based, Collaborative Workflow for Expressive Robotic Behaviours

TL;DR

This paper introduces a theatrical, collaborative workflow for developing expressive robotic behaviors through director-guided puppeteering, capturing improvisations to create emotional gestures for future autonomous performances, fostering interdisciplinary human-robot interaction.

Contribution

It presents a novel practice-led framework combining theatrical methods with robotics to develop emotionally expressive behaviors for robots, emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration.

Findings

Feasibility demonstrated through initial trials.

Workflow enables precise emotional gesture sculpting.

Highlights challenges from robot mechanical constraints.

Abstract

In this paper, we propose theatre-in-the-loop, a framework for developing expressive robot behaviours tailored to artistic performance through a director-guided puppeteering workflow. Leveraging theatrical methods, we use narrative objectives to direct a puppeteer in generating improvised robotic gestures that convey specific emotions. These improvisations are captured and curated to build a dataset of reusable movement templates for standalone playback in future autonomous performances. Initial trials demonstrate the feasibility of this approach, illustrating how the workflow enables precise sculpting of robotic gestures into coherent emotional arcs while revealing challenges posed by the robot's mechanical constraints. We argue that this practice-led framework provides a model for interdisciplinary teams creating socially expressive robot behaviours, contributing to (1) theatre as an interactive training ground for human-robot interaction and (2) co-creation methodologies between humans and machines.