Choreography for Marionettes: Imitation, Planning, and Control

Abstract

This paper presents a project aimed at the creation
\nof fully automated marionettes for puppet plays, to be used in
\nstage plays at the Atlanta Center for Puppetry Arts. In fact,
\nmarionettes are sophisticated and challenging mechanical systems,
\nand therefore represent good test-beds for many current
\nissues in robotics, such as systematic modeling of relatively
\nhigh degree of freedom systems, semantics of high-level motion
\nplanning and control, and numerical optimization techniques
\nfor motion imitation and generation. This paper presents our
\napproach to these problems, and highlights how insights from
\npuppeteers can aid in the creation of a systematic framework
\nfor modeling and control of these complex mechanical systems.