Telepresence for Art and Learning

Speaker
Peter Coppin
Principal Investigator of the Event Scope Project, STUDIO for Creative Inquiry / Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University

When
-

Where
Newell-Simon Hall 1305 (Michael Mauldin Auditorium)

Description

Telepresence for Learning
Telerobots and telepresence systems allow people to experience hard-to-reach places without physically being there. For years, specialists have used these systems to explore sites such as Mars, parts of the Ocean, and toxic/radiation zones. Coppin’s current research focuses on the creation of telepresence systems that enable large numbers of students to experience real physical remote locations for the purposes of learning and discovery. Currently, Coppin is Principal Investigator for the NASA funded EventScope project in the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry and the Robotics Institute at CMU. EventScope allows middle school students to engage in real telerobotic exploration through Virtual Environments (VEs) constructed from real NASA data. These “Virtual Environments” (VEs) can then be downloaded and placed within a sequence of computer-based activities. Students gain an individual feeling of exploration by downloading the virtual environments. Coppin’s approach is visual and interactive, informed by a background that began in interactive art, but was shaped over the years by working in disciplines as diverse as interactive television, art, and telerobotics.

Telepresence Art
Coppin’s practice began though the creation of computer-controlled (robotic) sculptures and installations. Later, Coppin produced interactive television products at a fledgling corporation in Dallas, Texas. These disciplines converged for Coppin when he entered the graduate MFA program in the School of Art at CMU. There, Coppin created telerobots that could be controlled by Telephone-TV hybrid interfaces, and later, through the Web. During this time, Coppin produced numerous telerobotic art works with the group he co-founded called “The Centre for Metahuman Exploration” between 1996 & 1999, including the internationally recognized “Project Paradise” (Siggraph 1998, Ars Electronica 1998).

Speaker's Bio

Coppin is a Research Fellow (Special Faculty Appointment) through the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at CMU. Coppin also teaches Telepresence Art and Applications within the School of Art, the Human-computer Interaction Institute and the Robotics Institute at CMU.