DESSAIM - swarms choreography

The DESSAIM collective brings together engineers specializing in robotics, computer science, and biomechanics; artists from dance, movement, puppetry, and object theater; as well as experts in functional and expressive movement analysis and teaching-learning. Together, they explore the expressive possibilities offered by movement variations in aerial and terrestrial robotic swarms. A 25-minute documentary, directed by Maxime Pelletier-Huot, follows the project’s evolution and its team of artists and engineers. This documentary is available upon request, and its trailer can be viewed below.

The project, funded by the FRQ’s PRISME-ART program, brings together team members into a swarm collective working with three types of robotic swarms: 1) CrazyCognies (small aerial drones), 2) Doodys (wheeled platforms topped with a Kinova robotic arm), and 3) tabletop Zooids. A choreographic framework is mobilized to facilitate the encounter of these robotic swarms with moving human swarms (the participant audience). During our inter-swarm explorations, the functionality of the robotic entities is reimagined to highlight their expressiveness through variations in their dynamic qualities. Recycled and repurposed materials transform their appearance and surroundings, enabling them to become, together or individually, expressive and poetic matter in constant motion. The performance-installations resulting from these explorations, in interaction with humans, offer the potential to transform audience perceptions of robots, even generating empathy for the movement of these artificial beings and materials. The videos below present a summary of the explorations with the Zooids, followed by those with the CrazyCognies.