Five Mississippi State Department of Computer Science and Engineering students merged technology with art by integrating AI and robots into the recent Shackouls Honors College performance of the Latin comedy “Trinummus” or “Three-Dollar Day.”
Written by the Roman playwright Plautus, the production featured three AI robots playing the roles of Maximus, Sycophant, a mail carrier and AI-generated background effects to enhance scenery.
Playing the role of Megaronides’ dog, Maximus’ actor was a Unitree Go1 quadruped with a custom interface for human interaction developed by computer science department undergraduate student Jade Thompson and master’s student Kyler Smith.
The trickster Sycophant was played by a modified version of SoftBank Robotics’ humanoid robot Pepper. Computer science department master’s student Kenna Henkel and doctorate student Zach Henkel developed software and modified the robot’s physical form, which enabled its joints and speech to synchronize and facilitated physical interaction and movement compatible with the human actors. They also developed collaborative show performance software to supervise and cue the robot’s show performance.
Developed by Zach and Kenna, the mail carrier was played by a Dr. Robot Jaguar V4 tracked robot. Tasked with helping Sycophant deliver letters, the robot was rebuilt with a more responsive control system for efficient performance navigation and attached with a custom cart holding the letters.
Zach said the four-person robotics team worked with play director and Shackouls Honors College senior faculty fellow Donna Clevinger for seven months to integrate the robots into the play successfully.
“This seven-month process began with building a common understanding of the show and the way robots could successfully bring the words of the play to life while interacting with their human scene partners,” he said.
Derek Willis, a master’s student in the computer science department, used AI to craft the play’s background elements, including moving clouds, flying birds and weather effects.
Willis said he used his knowledge of spatial perception and augmented reality to transport audience members into a vibrant ancient world.
“By integrating multiple projectors and spatial mapping, we created a panoramic view that enhanced the storytelling and brought new depth to this timeless comedy,” Willis said.
A month before the play’s first performance, human actors were cast and immediately began rehearsing with the robots.
Zach said the intensive rehearsal sessions successfully integrated the human and robot cast members into the production.
“This process yielded tremendous insights and allowed both the robots and humans to refine each other and converge upon the final versions of the scenes featured in the performances,” he said.
