Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

So You Think You Can Dance? Rhythmic Flight Performances with Quadrocopters

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Controls and Art

Abstract

This chapter reviews an approach for generating rhythmic flight motions that are executed by quadrocopters and timed to music. It represents a research and artistic experiment, which explores for the first time the potential of using flying vehicles in rhythmic, musical performances. We introduce periodic movements as the basic motion elements of such a performance, and derive control algorithms for guiding the vehicles along the desired motion paths and synchronizing their motion to the music. The vehicle dynamics and constraints are taken into account to determine, prior to flight, which motions are feasible. We demonstrate the resulting multivehicle flight performances at the ETH Zurich Flying Machine Arena.

This chapter summarizes results that have previously been published in [1–5]. Parts of those papers are reproduced here for the sake of completeness.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Video found at http://youtu.be/3JOzuTUCq6s.

  2. 2.

    www.bu.edu/today/2013/dances-with-robots

References

  1. Schoellig AP, Augugliaro F, D’Andrea R (2010) Synchronizing the motion of a quadrocopter to music. In: Proceedings of the IEEE international conference on robotics and automation (ICRA), 2010, pp 3355–3360

    Google Scholar 

  2. Schoellig AP, Augugliaro F, D’Andrea R (2010) A platform for dance performances with multiple quadrocopters. In: Proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ international conference on intelligent robots and systems (IROS) - workshop on robots and musical expressions, 2010, pp 1–8

    Google Scholar 

  3. Schoellig AP, Hehn M, Lupashin S, D’Andrea R (2011) Feasibility of motion primitives for choreographed quadrocopter flight. In: Proceedings of the American control conference (ACC), 2011, pp 3843–3849

    Google Scholar 

  4. Schoellig AP, Wiltsche C, D’Andrea R (2012) Feed-forward parameter identification for precise periodic quadrocopter motions. In: Proceedings of the American control conference (ACC), 2012, pp 4313–4318

    Google Scholar 

  5. Augugliaro F, Schoellig AP, D’Andrea R (2013) Dance of the flying machines. IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine

    Google Scholar 

  6. Varela FJ, Thompson ET, Rosch E (1991) Dance of the flying machines: Methods for Designing and Executing an Aerial Dance Choreography. The embodied mind: cognitive science and human experience. The MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  7. Brooks RA (2000) Cambrian intelligence: the early history of the new AI. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  8. Pfeifer R, Bongard J (2007) How the body shapes the way we think: a new view of intelligence. MIT press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  9. Block B, Kissell JL (2001) The dance: essence of embodiment. Theoretical medicine and bioethics 22(1):5–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Gray JA (1989) Dance technology: current applications and future trends. ERIC

    Google Scholar 

  11. Gray JA (1984) Dance in computer technology: a survey of applications and capabilities. Interchange 15(4):15–25

    Google Scholar 

  12. Kim G, Wang Y, Seo H (2007) Motion control of a dancing character with music. In: Proceedings of the 6th IEEE/ACIS international conference on computer and information science (ICIS), 2007, pp 930–936

    Google Scholar 

  13. Kim T-H, Park SI, Shin SY (2003) Rhythmic-motion synthesis based on motion-beat analysis. ACM Trans. Graph. (TOG) 22(3):392–401

    Google Scholar 

  14. Bary J, Leaping into dance technology. Connect: information technology at NYU, 2002. http://www.nyu.edu/its/pubs/connect/archives/fall02/bary_dance.pdf

  15. Macel E (2007) iDance. Dance Magazine

    Google Scholar 

  16. Latulipe C, Wilson D, Huskey S, Word M, Carroll A, Carroll E, Gonzalez B, Singh V, Wirth M, Lottridge D (2010) Exploring the design space in technology-augmented dance. In: Extended abstracts on human factors in computing systems. ACM, New York, pp 2995–3000

    Google Scholar 

  17. Meador WS, Rogers TJ, O’Neal K, Kurt E, Cunningham C (2004) Mixing dance realities: collaborative development of live-motion capture in a performing arts environment. Computers in Entertainment (CIE) 2(2):12–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Birringer JH (2002) Dance and media technologies. PAJ J Perform Art 24(1):84–93

    Google Scholar 

  19. Lynch A, Majeed B, O’Flynn B, Barton J, Murphy F, Delaney K, O’Mathuna S (2005) A wireless inertial measurement system (WIMS) for an interactive dance environment. J Phys Conf Series 15(1):95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Calvert T, Wilke W, Ryman R, Fox I (2005) Applications of computers to dance. IEEE Comput Graph Appl 25(2):6–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Chan JC, Leung H, Tang JK, Komura T (2011) A virtual reality dance training system using motion capture technology. IEEE Trans Learn Technol 4(2):187–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Parrish M (2007) Technology in dance education. In: International handbook of research in arts education. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 1381–1397

    Google Scholar 

  23. Smith-Autard J (2003) The essential relationship between pedagogy and technology in enhancing the teaching of dance form. Res Dance Educ 4(2):151–169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Obermaier K, Ars Electronica Futurelab Apparition. http://www.exile.at/apparition/project.html

  25. Nakazawa A, Nakaoka S, Ikeuchi K, Yokoi K (2002) Imitating human dance motions through motion structure analysis. In: Proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ international conference on intelligent robots and systems (IROS), vol 3, 2002, pp 2539–2544

    Google Scholar 

  26. Sousa P, Oliveira JL, Reis LP, Gouyon F (2011) Humanized robot dancing: humanoid motion retargeting based in a metrical representation of human dance styles. Prog Artif Intell 7026:392–406

    Google Scholar 

  27. Shinozaki K, Iwatani A, Nakatsu R (2008) Construction and evaluation of a robot dance system. In: Proceedings of the IEEE international symposium on robot and human interactive communication (ROMAN), 2008, pp 366–370

    Google Scholar 

  28. Aucouturier J, Ogai Y, Ikegami T (2008) Making a robot dance to music using chaotic itinerancy in a network of fitzhugh-nagumo neurons. Neural information processing, pp 647–656, 2008. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-540-69162-4_67

  29. Nakaoka S, Kajita S, Yokoi K (2010) Intuitive and flexible user interface for creating whole body motions of biped humanoid robots. In: Proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ international conference on intelligent robots and systems, 2010, pp 1675–1682

    Google Scholar 

  30. Tholley IS, Meng QG, Chung PW (2012) Robot dancing: what makes a dance? Adv Mater Res 403:4901–4909

    Google Scholar 

  31. Avrunin E, Hart J, Douglas A, Scassellati B (2011) Effects related to synchrony and repertoire in perceptions of robot dance. In: Proceedings of the 6th international conference on Human-robot, interaction, 2011, pp 93–100

    Google Scholar 

  32. Grunberg DK, Batula AM, Schmidt EM, Kim YE (2012) Affective gesturing with music mood recognition. In: Proceedings of the 12th IEEE-RAS international conference on humanoid robots, 2012, pp 343–348

    Google Scholar 

  33. Ekman P (1992) Are there basic emotions? Psychol Rev 99:550–553

    Google Scholar 

  34. Xia G, Dannenberg R, Tay J, Veloso M (2012) Autonomous robot dancing driven by beats and emotions of music. In: Proceedings of the 11th international conference on autonomous agents and multiagent systems-volume 1. International foundation for autonomous agents and multiagent systems, 2012, pp 205–212

    Google Scholar 

  35. Meng Q, Tholley I, Chung PW (2012) Robot dancing: adapting robot dance to human preferences. pp. 557–565, 2012

    Google Scholar 

  36. Takeda T, Hirata Y, Kosuge K (2007) Dance step estimation method based on hmm for dance partner robot. IEEE Trans Ind Electron 54(2):699–706

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Kosuge K, Takeda T, Hirata Y, Endo M, Nomura M, Sakai K, Koizumi M, Oconogi T (2008) Partner ballroom dance robot -PBDR-. SICE J Control Measur Syst Integr 1(1):74–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Michalowski MP, Simmons R, Kozima H (2009) Rhythmic attention in child-robot dance play. In: Proceedings of the 18th IEEE international symposium on robot and human interactive, communication, 2009, pp 816–821

    Google Scholar 

  39. Baillieul J, Ozcimder K (2012) The control theory of motion-based communication: Problems in teaching robots to dance. In: Proceedings of the American control conference (ACC), 2012, pp 4319–4326

    Google Scholar 

  40. Murphy R, Shell D, Guerin A, Duncan B, Fine B, Pratt K, Zourntos T (2011) A midsummer night’s dream (with flying robots). Auton Robot 30(2):143–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Catton P (2011) Culture city online: dances with robots. The Wall Street Journal - Metropolis Blog. http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011/07/15/culture-city-online-dances-with-robots/

  42. Augugliaro F, Schoellig AP, D’Andrea R (2012) Generation of collision-free trajectories for a quadrocopter fleet: a sequential convex programming approach. In: Proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ international conference on intelligent robots and systems (IROS), 2012, pp 1917–1922

    Google Scholar 

  43. Mellinger D, Kumar V (2011) Minimum snap trajectory generation and control for quadrotors. In: Proceedings of the IEEE international conference on robotics and automation (ICRA), 2011, pp 2520–2525

    Google Scholar 

  44. Hughes PC (1986) Spacecraft attitude dynamics. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  45. Dixon S (2006) BeatRoot: an interactive beat tracking and visualisation system (software tool). http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/simond/beatroot

  46. Sofras P (2006) Dance composition basics: capturing the choreographer’s craft. Human Kinetics, Champaign

    Google Scholar 

  47. Minton SC (2007) Choreography: a basic approach using improvisation, 3rd edn. Human Kinetics, Champaign

    Google Scholar 

  48. Tolstov GP, Silverman RA (1962) Fourier series. Courier Dover Publications, New York

    Google Scholar 

  49. Fraleigh SH (1987) Dance and the lived body: a descriptive aesthetics. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh

    Google Scholar 

  50. Augugliaro F (2011) Dancing quadrocopters - trajectory generation, feasibility and user interface. Master’s thesis, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-a-007328864

  51. How J, Behihke B, Frank A, Dale D, Vian J (2008) Real-time indoor autonomous vehicle test environment. IEEE Contr Syst Mag 28(2):51–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Lupashin S, Schoellig AP, Sherback M, D’Andrea R (2010) A simple learning strategy for high-speed quadrocopter multi-flips. In: Proceedings of the IEEE international conference on robotics and automation (ICRA), 2010, pp 1642–1648

    Google Scholar 

  53. Hanna JL (1987) To dance is human: a theory of nonverbal communication. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  54. Augugliaro F, D’Andrea R (2013) Admittance control for physical human-quadrocopter interaction. In: Proceedings of the European control conference (ECC), 2013, pp 1805–1810

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of the current and former Flying Machine Arena team members, in particular Markus Hehn, Sergei Lupashin, Mark W. Mueller, and Michael Sherback. The authors also thank Marc-Andre Corzillius, Carolina Flores, Hans Ulrich Honegger, and Igor Thommen for the technical support. This research was supported in part by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Aerospace Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Angela P. Schoellig

  2. Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Hallie Siegel, Federico Augugliaro & Raffaello D’Andrea

Authors
  1. Angela P. Schoellig
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hallie Siegel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Federico Augugliaro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Raffaello D’Andrea
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Angela P. Schoellig .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Systems and Information Engineering Department, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

    Amy LaViers

  2. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Magnus Egerstedt

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Schoellig, A.P., Siegel, H., Augugliaro, F., D’Andrea, R. (2014). So You Think You Can Dance? Rhythmic Flight Performances with Quadrocopters . In: LaViers, A., Egerstedt, M. (eds) Controls and Art. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03904-6_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03904-6_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-03903-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-03904-6

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation