Documentation of work installed at Incinerator Art Space, Sydney, 2017 Robot choreography and programming: Wade Marynowsky. Music composition and musical interface programming: Julian Knowles

This work makes use of a non-humanoid assembly line industrial robot as a solo performer. What distinguishes it from previous work is that it attempts to attribute human performer characteristics to a visually non-humanoid industrial device. The machine is anthropomorphised in ways that do not involve humanoid form, but rather via choreographic movement and situation within a human performance context (music performance). The precise elements that contribute to a sense of the human in robot performance is not known. There is a need to better understand what specific elements may contribute to a sense of the human. This work investigates the various aspects of robotic performance that drive the sense of human-ness in a robot music performer. It seeks to uncover the key aspects that make a robot performance ‘work’ for an audience and what it is that makes an audience member experience anthropomorphic qualities in a performing robot.