Athletic robots

In a dark, cavernous room, two players face off. Moody light, quick cuts, and strategic use of slow motion communicate tension, drama, high stakes. The competitors and their playing terrain are lit with spotlights, in contrast to the hazy indefiniteness of the rest of the room. This is not how most advertisements for industrial robots look. In 2014, KUKA, a leading German robotics and automation firm, released a video titled “The Duel” which pitted Timo Boll, a world champion table tennis player, against a KUKA KR Agilus robotic arm.

Typical promotional videos for industrial robotics and automation systems focus on the technical traits of the machines being described, and the potential financial benefits that can be gained from using such systems. While those videos are highly informative, unless you happen to be in the market for an industrial robot, they’re not very exciting. Most marketing materials produced in support of industrial robots and automation systems are—understandably—targeted towards the people who might buy the robots: decision-makers at companies engaged in some kind of manufacturing process.

But there’s an undeniable public interest in industrial robotics and automation. Whether automation is being cast in a positive or negative light, people who don’t have a direct stake in buying industrial robots are still a relevant and interested audience. We’re fascinated by robots. They represent humanity’s capacity for technical achievement, but they’re also slightly uncanny. They can do things more precisely than we can, and do so without tiring or becoming bored. Perhaps because of their prominence in pop culture, we have historically thought of robots as humanoid in shape. Even when that isn’t the case, organic metaphors are common—robotic arms come to mind. Spraying paint in a car factory or working with a tool attachment, we perceive the robot arm as something that behaves much like the human arm.

So it seems perfectly natural to have one play table tennis.

Borrowing the meanings embodied in sport and the lustre of well-known athletes is no mistake. Robotics competitions, an important vehicle in robotics research, have long used sport as a problem case. There is a dual benefit to robots playing sports: they engage in a task which most people understand, and they test many fine-grained capabilities in movement and coordination. While the RoboCup, a football tournament, is a major moment for humanoid robots, table tennis seems ideal for robot arms. And, like a KUKA robot, Timo Boll can be seen as a popular German export.

In a 2015 addition to the genre of viral robot videos, Yaskawa, a Japanese robotics firm, pits Iaijyutsu master Isao Machii against a robot arm. While the robot arm (a model called the Motoman-MH24) is shown to be more capable of precision swordplay than its human competitor, the backstory of the challenge is couched as a collaboration. The robot arm is capable of outperforming the human only because the human has provided input. The opening sequence of the video shows Machii, rigged up in a motion capture suit, his movements informing the programming of the robot. Later, we see Machii examining the technique of the robot arm as it swings a sword, before the two begin their competition. The “Yaskawa Bushido Project” is underlined by the idea that together, skilled humans and hyper-precise robots can achieve even more spectacular feats than the most exceptional humans or robots can do on their own.

The manufacturers of industrial robots and automation systems are beginning to see the value in talking to a broader audience. “The Duel” represents the beginning of a change in the style of promotion in industrial robotics. Rather than being focused on the technical and the financial, this generation of videos shows in evocative and affective ways what industrial robots can do. These videos serve two purposes: they show a difficult, skillful human task being performed by an industrial robot, but concurrently reinforce the importance and uniqueness of humans. The message in “The Duel” is explicitly that while a KUKA robot arm might not be able to beat Timo Boll at his own game, it’s still a superior robot, capable of amazing feats. This is brought home by the strapline at the end of the video: “Not the best in table tennis. But probably the best in robotics.”

Whether playing table tennis or wielding a sword, the new genre of videos promoting industrial robots to the general public encourages a kind of awareness and even empathy towards the function of the robot arm and its attendant automation systems. A specific message is being conveyed: industrial robots can be exciting, can do things humans normally do, and can do those things with great precision. But they do not accomplish their tasks alone, and they do not replace humans. It’s a very definite message, presented in both “The Duel” and the “Yaskawa Bushido Project”, wrapped up in the imagery of sport and the aesthetics of action films and automotive advertisements.

In speaking to a general audience, a new look and structure are necessary. The narratives of these videos show the capabilities of the robot arm balanced against the importance and skill of the human. For dramatic effect, there must be uncertainty about who will win. The use of visual tactics like spot lighting and low contrast lets the brightly-coloured robot (orange for KUKA, blue for Yaskawa) stand out as the star. Slow motion allows the viewer to see the spectacular feats of both the robot and the human. “The Duel” and the “Yaskawa Bushido Project” show a new side of industrial robotics: one in which the robot is an exciting protagonist, working alongside or competing against a skilled human, accomplishing feats of athleticism that most viewers would find totally impossible. There is a kind of awe to be felt while watching both the humans and the robots in these videos. The industrial robots are portrayed not as super-human, but similar to how we perceive athletes: capable of achieving remarkable physical accomplishments. The message underlying these contests between industrial robot arms and sportsmen is that recognition of human skill and collaboration are both necessary in the future of automation.