a number of events exploring the merging of technology and the human body will take place during the
dott 07 festival 8 - 26 october (european premiere) see the renowned australian artist stelarc's 'walking head' -
a 2 m diameter 6-legged autonomous walking robot, made of aluminium, stainless steel, acrylic,
pneumatic actuators, electronics, and a LCD screen. vertically mounted on its chassis the screen is imaging a
computer generated human-like head. it can rotate from side to side.



the robot has a scanning ultra-sound sensor that detects the presence of a person in front of it. it sits still until
someone comes into the gallery space, then it stands, selects from a set of movements from its library of
pre-programmed motions and performs the choreography. it then stops and waits until it detects someone else.
the robot performs on a 4 m diameter platform and its tilt sensor system detects when it is close to the edge and
backs off, walking in another direction. the walking head robot will become an actual-virtual system in that its
mechanical leg motions will actuate its facial behaviours of nods, turns, tilts blinks and its vocalizations. other
possibilities include the robot being driven by its web-based 3D model with a menu of motion icons that
can be pasted together and played.



on tuesday, 9 october stelarc will give talk at 18:00, at the centre for life , times square, newcastle upon tyne, UK.