This robot dog is making its off-Broadway theater debut
Unitree’s Go2 Robot Dog has made his off-Broadway theatre debut, delivering behind-the-scenes look and interviews with the cast and crew.
GO2 of Unitree with actor Gabriel Lisdahl.
The play is a one act entitled “Robots, Spies, and Ai’s Love. The idea came when playwright John Arthur came across a video for Unitree’s GO2 Pro Robot on YouTube. He bought the robot himself, and from there the story grew. “I don’t think there were any actual robots living on stage,” Long said.
The love of the robot cast and crew, spies and AI. From left: Robot voice actor David Ray, actor Gabriel Lisdahl, director Kirk Gostkowski, Unica 2, actor Monica Park, playwright John Arthur Long, and robot operator Dariel Garcia.
The robot is voiced live by David Ray, who communicates through speakers mounted on the robot’s back, and its movements are controlled live by Dariel Garcia using apps and controllers.
“I have about 90% control,” Garcia says. “Many of the jumps and certain arm movements are pre-programmed, but most of the time it’s just a dog manipulation.”
To control the robot live, Dariel Garcia uses a controller that displays the robot’s onboard camera feed.
The play’s director, Kirk Gostkowski, also artistic director of the chain theater, had a simple idea of pre-recording the robot lines, but quickly realized that live performances were the best choice. He says he noticed it. “There’s a lot of comedy in this,” he says. “If there’s laughter, the actor has to pause. They know that actors treat the audience differently. This is the joy of live theater.”
I often see Unitree’s GO2 robot dog.
The play debuts on Friday and will run until March 1st as part of the Chain Winter One Act Festival. To see our exclusive behind the scenes look, check out the video in this article.