Crafting the Language of Robotic Agents: A vision for electroacoustic music in human–robot interaction

This article discusses the role of electroacoustic music practice in the context of human–robot interaction (HRI), illustrated by the first author’s work creating the sonic language of interactive robotic artwork Diamandini. It starts with a discussion of the role of sound in social robotics and surveys various notable conceptual approaches to robot sound. The central thesis of the article is that electroacoustic music can provide a valuable source of aesthetic considerations and creative practice for the creation of richer and more refined sonic HRIs by giving practitioners new ways to create believable sounding objects, to convey fiction, agency and animacy, and to communicate causality in auditory feedback. To demonstrate this, the authors describe the rationale for treating robot sound design as a compositional process and discuss the implications of the endeavour’s non-linear and site-specific nature. These considerations are illustrated using sound examples and design decisions made throughout the creation process of the robotic artwork. The authors conclude with observations on how the compositional process is affected by this particular application context.