Robots Dancing to Salsa

About the Project

This project considers the social partnered aspects of salsa danced to salsa music, and how a pair of robots could dance to this style of music. This project will investigate Robot - Robot interaction, programming of or training of motor skills, machine listening and computational creativity. It seeks to develop a system that would allow a pair of robots to listen to salsa music and dance together in a free improvised way, with one robot leading the other through different salsa moves, like a human partners would do so.

The project would look to develop machine listening methods for Salsa music for beat tracking and structural understanding and use this information to plan out dance moves. Robot - Robot communication will be explored so that the 'lead' robot can communicate the intended move to the 'follower' robot. This research will allow for investigation into human creativity and creative planning related to social dance, and non-verbal communication.

Academic qualifications

Have, or expect to achieve by the time of start of the studentship a first-class honours degree, or a distinction at master level, ideally in Robotics, Sound and Music Computing, Computer Science or equivalent with a good fundamental knowledge of Artificial Intelligence.

English language requirement

IELTS score must be at least 6.5 (with not less than 6.0 in each of the four components). Other, equivalent qualifications will be accepted. Full details of the University’s policy are available online.

Essential attributes:

• Good fundamental knowledge of Sound and Audio Processing and Analysis, Robotic Programming, Computational Creativity
• Understanding of AI applied to Audio and Music
• Understanding of Robotics
• Python Programming skills
• Only a first-class honours degree, or a distinction at master level in a subject relevant to the PhD project will be considered, or equivalent achievements.

Desirable attributes:

• Experience Salsa Dancing
• Practical experience in research or industry will be considered an advantage.

APPLICATION CHECKLIST

• Completed application form
• CV
• 2 academic references, using the Postgraduate Educational Reference Form (download)
• Research project outline of 2 pages (list of references excluded). The outline may provide details about:
  1. Background and motivation of the project. The motivation, explaining the importance of the project, should be supported also by relevant literature. You can also discuss the applications you expect for the project results.
  2. Research questions or objectives.
  3. Methodology: types of data to be used, approach to data collection, and data analysis methods.
  4. List of references.
• The outline must be created solely by the applicant. Supervisors can only offer general discussions about the project idea without providing any additional support.
• Statement no longer than 1 page describing your motivations and fit with the project.
• Evidence of proficiency in English (if appropriate)

To be considered, the application must use the advertised title as project title

For informal enquiries about this PhD project, please contact Dr Callum Goddard email C.Goddard@napier.ac.uk