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About

Robin Laney is a researcher at the intersection of artificial intelligence, music cognition, and human-computer interaction, with a primary focus on collaborative musical free improvisation. His major contributions lie in designing and evaluating artificial agents that can engage in real-time, unscripted musical dialogue with human performers. Drawing inspiration from Rodney Brooks’ behaviour-based AI and subsumption architecture, Laney has developed systems that operate without heavy computational representation, instead relying on parsimonious, reactive cognitive architectures. His most cited work, "A Subsumption Agent for Collaborative Free Improvisation" (2015, 17 citations), introduces an agent that explores the underpinnings of improvisational interaction, offering a novel framework for studying how humans and machines can co-create spontaneously. In related publications, Laney has examined the role of the Turing Test in musical HCI and argued for the underrepresented place of free improvisation in AI research. His work is notable for bridging theoretical AI with practical musical performance, providing a unique lens on interactive intelligence that challenges traditional notions of representation and cognition.