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Compressorhead: The Robot Band and Its Transmedia Storyworld

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Cultural Robotics (CR 2015)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 9549))

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Abstract

Robot-human relationships are being developed and redefined due to the emerging cultural phenomenon of popular robot bands such as Compressorhead and Z-Machine. Our primary research interest in this paper is the ways in which robots relate to, interact with, and are perceived by humans - or in short, human-robot relationships. To this aim we have conducted a small-scale (multi-‘species’) ethnography in which we were participant observers in the ongoing production of both the ‘onstage’ and ‘offstage’ transmedia storyworld of the all-robot band, Compressorhead. We use Henry Jenkins’s (2004, 2006, 2008) concept of ‘transmedia storytelling’ as a way of understanding how a storyworld that includes extensive human-robot interaction is simultaneously created by both humans and robots across multiple communication media platforms. In so doing, we argue that robots can indeed be seen as musicians, performers, and even celebrities, and therefore can be taken seriously as producers of culture.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    One example of such a human-robot (hybrid) band is: Captured! By Robots (1997-present). See: http://www.capturedbyrobots.com/.

  2. 2.

    See also additional Comments at: `Compressorhead Ace of Spades’, YouTube.com, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RBSkq-_St8.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of New South Wales (Art & Design) (UNSWAD), Paddington, Australia

    Alex Davies

  2. University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Sydney, Australia

    Alexandra Crosby

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  1. Alex Davies
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Correspondence to Alex Davies .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Creative Robotics Lab UNSW Art & Design , Paddington, Australia

    Jeffrey T.K.V. Koh

  2. Creative Robotics Lab , Paddington, New South Wales, Australia

    Belinda J. Dunstan

  3. Creative Robotics Lab , Paddington, Australia

    David Silvera-Tawil

  4. Creative Robotics Lab , Paddington, Australia

    Mari Velonaki

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Davies, A., Crosby, A. (2016). Compressorhead: The Robot Band and Its Transmedia Storyworld. In: Koh, J., Dunstan, B., Silvera-Tawil, D., Velonaki, M. (eds) Cultural Robotics. CR 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9549. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42945-8_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42945-8_14

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