# Episode 124: Robots in the performing arts - Amy LaViers

- Show: [Robot Talk](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk)
- Published: 2025-06-06
- Length: 22m
- Episode: 124
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-06-06-episode-124-robots-in-the-performing-arts-amy-laviers
- Listen: https://ukrobotics.libsyn.com/episode-124-robots-in-the-performing-arts-amy-laviers

## Summary

Amy LaViers, director of the Robotics, Automation, and Dance (RAD) Lab, discusses her interdisciplinary work bridging robotics and performing arts. She explains how her senior thesis on the 'unrideable bicycle' and choreographer Twila Tharp’s concepts of stability led to her current research on creating large datasets of annotated human movement for AI. LaViers also details the operational challenges of live performance robotics, where equipment failure is not an option, and describes her iterative, experimental approach to choreographing with non-humanoid machines like the HAL robot and piezo robots.

## Chapters

- [0:07](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-06-06-episode-124-robots-in-the-performing-arts-amy-laviers#t=7) Introduction: Amy LaViers and the RAD Lab
- [2:38](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-06-06-episode-124-robots-in-the-performing-arts-amy-laviers#t=158) LaViers' Career Path: From Unrideable Bicycles to Dance
- [8:45](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-06-06-episode-124-robots-in-the-performing-arts-amy-laviers#t=525) RAD Lab Projects: AI Infrastructure and Movement Datasets
- [12:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-06-06-episode-124-robots-in-the-performing-arts-amy-laviers#t=730) Defining Humanoid Robots and Expressive Movement
- [15:28](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-06-06-episode-124-robots-in-the-performing-arts-amy-laviers#t=928) Challenges of Live Performance Robotics
- [18:20](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-06-06-episode-124-robots-in-the-performing-arts-amy-laviers#t=1100) Iterative Choreography and Artistic Benefits

## Topics

- [Robotics & autonomy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/robotics-and-autonomy)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)
- [Industrial & consumer product design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/industrial-design)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Robotics, Automation, and Dance Lab (other)
- AE Machines (company)
- Twila Tharp (other)
- HAL robot (product)
- Boston Dynamics (company)
- Penn State (other)
- University of Illinois, Chicago (other)
- National Science Foundation (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [269: Entertainment Meets Automation: How andyRobot is Leveraging Robotics for Lady Gaga, Drake, and More](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-01-06-269-entertainment-meets-automation-how-andyrobot-is-leveraging-robotics-for-lady) (Manufacturing Happy Hour)
- [Seeing Robotics and Machine Vision as Dynamical Systems](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ee-times-current/2023-10-13-seeing-robotics-and-machine-vision-as-dynamical-systems) (EE Times Current)
- [Marc Raibert on the future of robotics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2023-07-25-marc-raibert-on-the-future-of-robotics) (The Robot Report Podcast)
- [65. Pizzaiolo Robot & Autonomous Wheelchairs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2022-04-12-65-pizzaiolo-robot-autonomous-wheelchairs) (The Next Byte Podcast)
- [142: New and Improved Appendages (Repeat)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2021-05-20-142-new-and-improved-appendages-repeat) (Embedded.fm)

## Citing this page

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