Stooge (the telerobotic puppet) 2010

Meet stooge - I created him in February 2010. Stooge is a computer generated puppet who responds to visual movements (a human-machine interface of sorts). The name Stooge relates metaphorically to the subservient nature of computers within the complex symbiotic relationship between man and machine: Stooge is the viewers henchman or willing sidekick who waits patiently before being called into action. The gestures are captured via a webcam and interpreted by software to control the appendages.

Initial investigations with Stooge at the development stage were focused around the technical or practical questions relating to the project - typically “how on earth do I create a remote interface that allows a machine to be operated at a distance?” In the case of stooge, computer vision was employed as the interface, with the role of the machine being fulfilled by a computer generated (Adobe Flash) puppet. Computer vision can be broadly defined as the science/investigation of machines that can see, and it is this area of science and technology that appeared most sympathetic with the concept for stooge - since vision has played an important role in the techno-organic theories of the late twentieth century. We only have to refer to the achievements of artificially enhanced vision enterprises (such as the development of sophisticated surveillance systems and apparatus similar to the Hubble space telescope) to realise its importance to Western hypothesis concerning man/machine transformations.

Reflecting critically on the achievements of stooge results in a number of questions surrounding the debates into cyborgs/human-machine interfaces/teleoperators. Stooge was designed to comment on the human interface with machines across distance (we have already defined the principles and concepts of a teleoperator) It is a fundamental assumption that teleoperators always have man at the centre of the control loop - Stooge, however, appears to turn on its head this anticipated dominance by the human participant. Instead of mirroring the viewers kinematics (as one would presumably expect from an installation of this type) stooge grins defiantly in the face of the audience as he responds to the movements but interprets them in apparently random and unorthodox manner. The irony being that in contrary to Stooge mimicking the ‘puppeteer’, it is stooge who emerges as the master. The audience, apparently confused and somewhat frustrated by the rogue movements of the puppets apparent disobedience to carry out its instruction, begin to replicate Stooge’s projected activity. The machine has manipulated itself into a position of control and just as N. Katherine Hales wrote in her essay The life Cycle of Cyborgs: Writing the posthuman “Humans are becoming more like androids, just like androids are becoming more like them”

Perhaps more alarmingly, the resulting scenario of a machine influencing the decisions of man is not a far cry from what many feel will herald the apocalypse - as the denizens of the Sci-Fi realms will testify by citing cyborg bodies such as the Terminator and the artificially intelligent machine consciousness’ of Larry and Andy Wachowski’s Matrix. I am not convinced for one moment that Stooge will be a harbinger of the Four Horsemen, but there are important debates that are (albeit incredibly simplistically) raised through this relatively unsophisticated puppet.

Teleoperators and Human Augmentation

Thats right, I said "Teleoperators and Human Augmentation"

“These machines perform as appendages of man, particularly his hand, arms, and legs. Radio links, copper wires, and steel cables replace nerve fibers and muscle tendons...weather they are the tongues used by the old fashioned grocer to retrieve a cerial box from the top shelf or the mechanical hand that may repair some future nuclear-powered space vehicle...the prefix ‘tele’ in teleoperator describes the ability of this class of man-machine systems to project man’s innate dexterity not only across distance but through physical barriers aswell” - Edwin G. Johnsen and William R. Corliss in their essay published in the Cyborg Handbook, 1995

The Virtual Body

“The Virtual body is a body of great potential. On this body we can reinscribe ourselves using whatever coding system we desire. We can try on new body configurations. We can experiment with immortality by going places and doing things that would be impossible in the physical world. For the virtual body, nothing is fixed and everything is possible. Indeed, this is the reason why hackers wish to become disembodied consciousness flowing freely through cyberspace, willing the idea of their own bodies and environments.” Flesh Machine: Critical Art Ensemble 1998.

If you've not read the book Flesh Machine you can download it for free from the Critical Art Ensemble's website. It's definitely a must if you're interested in Cyborg/Posthuman theory (along with other issues such as Eugenics, Pancapitalisn, and the Net)