Bob Hsiung's Design Portfolio

Of all of the technological elements of Death and the Powers, the Operabots were the one of the few elements that we had the means to build entirely in house with student labor at the Media Lab.

I worked closely with Production Designer Alex MacDowell on the conceptual design of the robots. I performed the mechanical design in Solidworks and redesigned circuit boards with PCB Designer. Analysis was done with MathCad.

The operabots have a base with 3 independently controlled omniwheels allowing the robots to glide in any direction independent of rotation. There are two additional degrees of mechanical articulation and 9 independent lighitng channels that allow for a very expressive performance. The lights and articulation of all robots are controlled by a central, wireless, cue-based control system. The translation for each robot is controlled manually for safety. A custom control interface allows a small group of operators located in the gallery to controll all robots.

I closely managed a team of about 10 students - mostly undergraduates - in the construction and testing and debugging of the various electromechanical systems. We were able to build the 12 finished Operabots needed for the opera in less than 6 months and for considerably less than our projected costs. I trained separate teams of students to operate and troubleshoot the robots at the world premiere in Monaco and then for the US premieres in Boston and Chicago. The Operabots performed well in all performances and routinely garnered the loudest applause of the night at their curtain call.