HERB's Sure Thing: A rapid drama system for rehearsing and performing live robot theater

In Spring 2014, the Personal Robotics Lab at CMU collaborated with the School of Drama to develop, produce and stage a live theatrical performance at the Purnell Center for the Arts in Pittsburgh. This paper describes some of our unique experiences collaborating with drama faculty, the director and the actor. We highlight the challenges arising from theatrical performance and specifically describe some of the technical tools we developed: a bidirectional Blender interface for robot animation, an interactive system for manipulating speech prosody, and a conductor's console for online improvisation and control during rehearsal and performance. It also explores some of the remaining challenges to our goal of developing algorithms and open-source tools that can enable any roboticist in the world to create their own dramatic performance.