Robot opera: Robert Gyorgyi interviews Ron Chrisley

Robert Gyorgyi, a Music student here at Sussex, recently interviewed me for his dissertation on robot opera.  He asked me about my recent collaborations, in which I programmed Nao robots to perform in operas composed for them.  Below is the transcript.

Interview with Dr Ron Chrisley, 20 April 2018, 12:00, University of Sussex

Bold text: Interviewer (Robert Gyorgyi), [R]: Dr Ron Chrisley

NB: The names ‘Ed’ and ‘Evelyn’ often come up within the interview. ‘Ed’ refers to Ed Hughes, the composer of Opposite of Familiarity (2017) and Evelyn to ‘Evelyn Ficarra’, composer of O, One (2017)

How did you hear about the project? Was it a sort of group brainstorming or was the idea proposed to you?

[R] -Evelyn approached me, then we had a meeting when she explained her vision to me.

These NAO robots are social robots designed to speak, not to sing. Was the assignment of their new task your main challenge? How did you do that?

Robot Opera Mini-Symposium Video

Last June I participated in the Robot Opera Mini Symposium organised by the Centre for Research in Opera and Music Theatre (CROMT) at Sussex.  A video of all the talks, and the robot opera performances themselves, is available below.  My 17-minute talk can be found at 08:40 into the video.

Robot Opera coverage in “Viva Lewes”

The September 2017 issue of Viva Lewes magazine features a two-page spread by Jacqui Bealing on the robot opera project that Evelyn Ficarra, Ed Hughes and I have been collaborating on (as detailed in earlier updates on this blog).  The article is available at:

 https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/59398533/viva-lewes-issue-132-september-2017/122

For convenience, I include a copy of the article below.

Sussex Robot Opera on Sky News

On Monday Kit Bradshaw of Sky News Swipe interviewed some of us involved with the recent robot operas at the University of Sussex (see http://www.sussex.ac.uk/broadcast/read/40568).

The report is due to air this weekend on Sky News at the following times (UK):

• Friday: 2130
• Saturday: 1030, 1430 & 1630
• Sunday: 1130, 1430 & 1630

(Subject to cancellation if there are breaking news stories or other big events).

You will also be able to view it from Friday evening on the Swipe YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG8IrydigQfckEQNNdxoPiQ0GtAJLP5_5

I hope one particular bit didn’t get left on the cutting room floor.  When Kit asked the robot “How did it feel to sing in a robot opera?”, the robot replied “Hmm.  Well I’m sure it was wonderful for the other performers and the audience, but not for me.  I’m not conscious, so nothing feels like anything for me.  In fact, I don’t even understand the words I am saying right now!”