ENP162: Assignment #1

Matthew Ebisu

ENP162 

Summer 2023

Website Design, Build and Automation: Portfolio Assignment

Part 1 

ABOUT:

ROBiTS Research and Development has been an independent banner that I have been documenting and producing my projects under for a while.  Before I got involved in academic research, I was involved in several innovative projects that involved computer-aided design, digital fabrication and social robot design and since 2017 I've used it for all of my engineering and artistic outreach.   During the summer of 2018, I pushed my interest of character focused social robotics by seeing if I could tell innovative engaging stories through expressive movement and behavior, through online short films.  

This website should provide a snapshot view into how I have long been approaching social robotics from a technological design in hardware along with engaging robotic programs and behaviors.   

Part 2

PERSONAS:

There are two people that I am targeting with my ROBiTS website: Persona 1  (who I am calling "Haruki Satozawa") is a college age graduate student or independent researcher looking to get started into social robotics.  We might have met at a robotics convention or possibly a trade show and is interested in learning more about socially interactive robots from the United States.

The second persona that I am targeting, Persona 2 (who I am calling "Serena Park ") is an independent commercial filmmaker from Los Angeles, working in the advertising and media center.  She is interested in using expressive character robots for either a short film or a commercial to be able to interact with people.

Haruki Satozawa

Persona 1

Background:  Young start up entrepreneur or independent researcher in the field of robotics and Japan.  After expressing a shared interest in artificial intelligence, portable robotics or IOT devices, he has decided to take a look at my website.

What he likes:  Exciting new technology with an interest in the greater human connection.  Is interested in how technology can span across international lines, whether it's social media or its open source projects.  Has multiple public repos and frequently shares codebases.  

What he cares about: Cares deeply about how technology is used and who it impacts.  He is working on a stealth start up to help impact the lives of his city through every day technological innovations.

Real Life Journey: Spends a majority in his research lab reviewing code bases and program infrastructure.  Has an interest in developing hardware but might not have the means to develop it himself.

What are they hoping to find: Guides and resources on open source technology and hopefully some impressive creative engineering projects.  

What might they like: I think he would be most impressed by my "Design" showcase for my various custom made robots and my "Interactive" programs section.  I would love to work with him on a collaborative interactive technology project. 

Serena Park

Persona 2

Background: Small or independent Los Angeles creative filmmaker and commercial director that has worked in the industry for at least five years.  Has directed such masterpieces as ""Burger Brawl: When the Pickle Met the Onion" and "Laundry Wars: Socktopia Strikes Back" and is currently looking for the "next creative thing" to be able to set her commercial apart from others.  

What she likes: She like new storytelling potential and has been wanting to work on creative projects.  An industry born an raised artist, when she is not attending a new underground film festival, she visits local film universities to help support up and coming students.  Very into social media. 

What she cares about: She wants to tell creative stories that can deeply affect a wide generation. However she also recognizes that commercials sell the most and has relegated to working in the industry with the hopes of doing creative work.

Real Life Journey: She has been following the development of Pixar Animation and Disney Studios since she was a girl and was inspired by their small company start to the megablockbuster films.  She is not a technologist herself but she is always been fascinated by the special effects industry and has been hoping to get involved.  

What are they hoping to find: She might have heard of ROBiTS from a few short film festivals we have been playing at or maybe through our online content.  Either way, she finds the robot videos "funny" and is hoping to see what makes the robots come alive.

What might they like:  I think she would find the characters designs for my robots amusing, but she would hopefully see more of the filmmaking potential from the "Animation" page. 

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE 

TheROBiTS.com is set up to support each of my individual interests and goals with social robotics and robotic development.  "Design" is engineering design and showcases several of my favored robotic creations from my bipedal humanoid PLEN to my interactive walking robot spider.   "Animation" showcases my artwork for character focused robot storytelling andis more artistically driven.  Finally "Interaction" covers my individual research in human robot interaction covering both interactive and user experience in technology.


BRAND PERSONALITY

Admittedly the most challenging part is weaving together the different sections of engineering design, animation and interaction into a cohesive brand.  However, by focusing on how my robots are going to be designed to engage, entertain and collaborate with others, I believe that I am able to thread a narrative through each of these parts.  As a technology development consultancy that is focused on creating character robots, ROBiTs encompasses research and development into all aspects from hardware and electronic creation to software and programming and finally "short film" deployment. 

Part 4: 

AUTOMATION LOGIC

I am bringing together three different websites using my automation: robits.com homepage, my youtube website and my tumblr blog.  Using IFTTT I have been able to create an applett that automatically pulls from my youtube feed and publishes to my tumblr webiste at tadashi-builds-stuff.com    This is then published to the "Blog" section on the final tab. 

FUNCTIONING

Applett from youtube to tumblr works.   Eventually I would like to create an applett that allows me to tie in my instagram account onto a "gallery" page, but that will be something I work on in the near future.  

youtube website

tumblr website