On August 24, in the field of the second World Humanoid Robot Games, three robots of the Dance Academy of Central Nationalities University and the Excellent Starry Sky Joint Team showcased works that fuse science and technology with ethnic dance. The work not only retains the routine movements of cheerleading, but also incorporates multi-ethnic dance elements.
Before the game, Tan Wei, an associate professor of dance at Central Minzu University, and the technical team repeatedly debugged the robot to solve the problem of synchronization of music and dance. Graduate student Wang Yiqing joined the project from the end of May and was responsible for specific choreography. Choreography for robots is more complicated than you think, she says. There are a lot of actions that humans can do that robots can't do. For example, the cross-steps in Mongolian dance can only be simplified because the robot needs to leave space between the legs. In addition, the rules of the game require the robot to hold the flower ball all the way, and once it drops, it will deduct points. Scoring criteria such as motion creation, body control, and technical completion should also be considered when choreographing.
In order to "teach" the robot to dance, the students of the dance academy first rehearsed and captured the motion. Students put on motion capture suits with reflective markers and perform the entire dance in front of the camera. The device recognizes the reflective marking points on the body, records the action data, and finally writes it to the robot's system. This process took a long time, recording nearly 6 hours at a time, and 4 versions were recorded before and after it was successful.
This nearly 2-minute dance incorporates elements from multiple ethnic groups such as Mongols, Tibetans, and Wa. There are many small joint movements in the Dai dance, so the robot is difficult to present, so it is not adopted; the "soft arm" of the Mongolian dance is simplified to the up and down movement of the robotic arm; the "pushing hand" of the Korean dance is controlled at the safe angle allowed by the robot joint. In order to increase the flavor of the folk dance, the team also specially contacted music producers to incorporate elements of folk music such as ma head piano and Tibetan folk songs into the dynamic music of the cheerleading.
Wang Yiqing said that it was very magical and proud to see the robot dance its own dance for the first time. Folk dancing by robots is rare, which is also a highlight of the entries. This attempt filled her with excitement for the future and a desire to explore more.
