Alexandra Bacula
Assistant Professor of Computer Science - Pacific Lutheran University
PhD in Robotics - Oregon State University, 2023 - CHARISMA Robotics Lab
BS in Aerospace Engineering - University of Illinois, 2018
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About Me
About Me
I am a former ballet dancer turned roboticist who is passionate about the intersection of arts and technology and exploring how each practice can inform the other. Outside of research, I dance, embroider, play video games, and spend a lot of time with my cat.
Over the years, my research has primarily focused on various forms of expressive motion for human-robot interaction (HRI). Expressive motion is motion designed with the aim of communicating something to an onlooker. This can include more obvious communication signals, like gesture, or more subtle communications, such as moving quickly in a straight line to signal to others you have a place to be. To see more details on my past and current work, check out the pages under the Research tab on the top right of the website!
In my spare time, I have created works utilizing robots, lights, costumes, and sound as either in-person performances or videos. These works leverage my dance background, as well as my love of sewing and crafting to create elaborate robot performances. Check out my Portfolio tab to see videos of these!
I have a dream to someday create a museum filled with interactive robotics that allows people to explore and engage with their relationships with robots and technology in different ways.
I also have a passion for outreach and sharing my love of engineering and art with others. I was previously a Science Communication Fellow at Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). Check out my past demos in the Outreach tab in the top right of the website! During my undergraduate studies at University of Illinois, I was the Outreach Director for Women in Aerospace and helped start a day-long event for middle school girls to come learn about aerospace engineering, called Girls Learning Air and Space Sciences (GLASS) Day. Women in Aerospace is still holding yearly GLASS Day events.
Publications
Publications
[1] Bacula, Alexandra , Heather Knight. "Dancing with Robots at a Science Museum: Coherent Motions Got More People To Dance, Incoherent Sends Weaker Signal." Proceedings of the 2024 International Symposium on Technological Advances in Human-Robot Interaction. March, 2024.
[2] Bacula, Alexandra, Ethan Villalovoz, Deanna Flynn, Ankur Mehta, Heather Knight. "Social Triangles and Aggressive Lines: Multi-Robot Formations Impact Navigation and Approach." Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS). October, 2023.
[3] Bacula, Alexandra, Heather Knight. "MoTiS Parameters for Expressive Multi-Robot Systems: Relative Motion, Timing, and Spacing." International Journal of Social Robotics, pp. 1-29. October, 2022.
[4] Bacula, Alexandra, Heather Knight. "Incoherent Robot Groups: How Divergent Motions within a Robot Group Predict Functional and Social Interpretations." Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Movement and Computing, pp. 1-6. June, 2022.
[5] Bacula, Alexandra, Jason Mercer, Jaden Berger, Julie A. Adams, Heather Knight. “Integrating Robot Manufacturer Perspectives into Legible Factory Robot Light Communications,” Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction. October, 2022.
[6] Berger, Jaden, Alexandra Bacula, Heather Knight. “Exploring Communicatory Gestures for Simple Multi-Robot Systems,” Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Social Robotics, Singapore, November, 2021.
[7] Bacula, Alexandra, Amy LaViers. "Character Synthesis of Ballet Archetypes on Robots Using Laban Movement Analysis: Comparison Between a Humanoid and an Aerial Robot Platform with Lay and Expert Observation." International Journal of Social Robotics, pp. 1-16. 2020.
[8] Bacula, Alexandra, Jason Mercer, and Heather Knight. "Legible Light Communications for Factory Robots." In Companion of the 2020 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, pp. 119-121. 2020.
[9] Bacula, Alexandra, Heather Knight. "Dance Prototyping: Communicating Group Membership and Relational Attitudes via Multi-Robot Expressive Motion." In Companion of the 2020 Robotics Science and Systems Conference. July, 2020.
[10] Bacula, Alexandra, Heather Knight. "Excluded by the JellyFish: Robot-Group Expressive Motion." ICRA-X Robotics and Art. Montreal, Canada. roboticart.org. 2019.
[11] Bacula, Alexandra, Amy LaViers, “Character Design and Validation on Aerial Robotic Platforms Using Laban Movement Analysis,” Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Social Robotics, Qingdao, China, 2018.
[12] Bacula, Alexandra, Amy LaViers, “Character Recognition on a Humanoid Robotic Platform via a Laban Movement Analysis,” Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Movement and Computing, Genoa, Italy, June, 2018.
[13] Baldini, Francesca, Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay, Rebecca Foust, Soon-Jo Chung, Amir Rahmani, Jean-Pierre de la Croix, Alexandra Bacula, Christian M. Chilan, and Fred Hadaegh. "Fast motion planning for agile space systems with multiple obstacles." In AIAA/AAS astrodynamics specialist conference, p. 5683. 2016.
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