Documentary Films
War Machine
War Machine (forthcoming) writer/director/editor. Currently in pre-production.
An independently produced feature length documentary on the development of robots designed and authorized to kill humans in the context of war and policing. It will examine the technology, its developers, the legal and moral implications of the technology, as well as the ethics of killing and its mediation by advanced technologies more generally.
Love Machine
Love Machine (2001) writer/director/editor. Co-produced with Doug Matejka.
IMDb linkAn independently produced feature length documentary on the development of robots capable of entering human social relations of love and caring. Features interviews with: Rodney Brooks, Hans Moravec, Ken Goldberg, Hubert Dreyfus, Daniel Dennett, Manuel Delanda, and others. Filmed in color digital video and stereo digital audio. Running time: 110 minutes.
Love Machine had its World Premiere at the Auditorium of the Beckman Insitute for Advanced Science and Technology, November 5, 2002. It included a discussion panel with the filmmakers, Theodore Bailey and Jay Rosenstein and was featured in CU Cityview. The premiere was funded by the Silicon, Carbon and Culture Initiative of the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities.
University of Illinois press release for premiereA dubbed version of Love Machine (known in Hungarian as "A szeretõ gép") reached Hungarian audiences at the International Scientific Film Festival in Budapest Hungary, Bem Mozi Theater, November 10, 2005.
Love Machine reached Austrian audiences at the Roboexotica Festival in Vienna, Austria, MuseumsQuartier, November 18, 2005.
Love Machine reached Swedish audiences as part of the Love, War & Robots Film Series at the HUMlab in Umeå, Sweden, June 1, 2007.
Love Machine reached Slovenian audiences at Kiberpipa in Ljubljana, Slovenia, PostLAB, June 14, 2007.
Love Machine reached California audiences at the Arse Elektronika in San Francisco, California, October 7, 2007, featuring a discussion with Peter Asaro & Katie Vann.
Love Machine reached New Jersey audiences at the Writers House at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, April 29, 2008, featuring a discussion with Peter Asaro & Richard Dienst.
Love Machine reached Mancunian audiences at Technolust Trauma Film Festival at Manchester Metropolitan University in Manchester, England, March 9, 2009.
In the Neighborhood
In the Neighborhood: A Snapshot of Homelessness in Champaign-Urbana (2000) editor. Written and directed by Doug Matejka, Linda Linn, and Charles Lawler.
A short independent documentary examining attitudes toward the problem of homelessness and attempts by local agencies to deal with it. Premiered at the New Art Theater as part of the January 2000 "Homelessness Marathon" Benefit and National Conference on Homelessness. Filmed in color digital video. Running time: 35 minutes.
Experimental Video
AD-duction
AD-duction (1997) writer/director/editor.
A short experimental video project which attempts to generate a response to the one-way communication channel of the cable television medium, using video and audio recorded from that medium. The title is a play on "abduction", a term coined by Charles Sanders Peirce to refer to the third branch of logic, alongside induction and deduction. Abduction is the logic of forming hypotheses, which is interpreted here as how one can construct meaning through experiment. For this project, I recorded eight hours of channel surfing on Chicago-area cable TV channels in November, 1997. Using two VCRs with audio-dubbing capabilities, a response to the material was edited out of that material. It attempts to recapture the viewing subject as it is being targeted by various marketing tactics, examines how the TV media attempts to manipulate that subject for political and commercial purposes, and questions whether that medium can achieve anti-communication. This project was undertaken as part of Prof. Herbert Brun's Experimental Composition seminar at the University of Illinois School of Music. Recorded in color analog video and stereo audio. Running time: 15 minutes.
Research Videos
Disco Color Stick Demo
disco color stick (2003) writer/director/editor/narrator.
A short video produced for Iguana Robotics, Inc. It demonstrates a prototype device which uses LEDs and a light sensor to determine surface colors, then "speaks" the color names using a small digital synthesizer. In addition to filming and editing the demonstration, I also worked on the spectral color analysis model, designed the neural network used for color matching, and designed the synthesized voice for the device.
Stick Walking/Stepping Stones Demos
Stick Walking/Stepping Stones (2003) writer/director/editor.
Video1, Video2, Video3, Video4A short video produced for Iguana Robotics, Inc. It features a biped robot constrained by a radial arm apparatus with 2-degrees of freedom. The robot utilizes a central pattern generator (CPG) to generate its walking motion, and is able to modulate its gait, and thereby the length of its strides. The video demonstrates the robot's vision system, which uses a color analysis algorithm to identify foot placement positions and modulate its gait and stride to land on these positions. The robot is shown using this vision system to navigate across a set of irregularly spaced sticks on end.