Multi Layered Autonomy and AI Ecologies in Robotic Art Installations

The article by BaoYang Chen, Xian Xu, and Huamin Qu discusses multi-layered autonomy and AI ecologies in robotic art installations. The authors present Symbiosis of Agents, a large-scale AI-driven robotic art installation that integrates emergent behaviors from self-organized AI robotic ecologies. The work emphasizes the balance between machine agency and artist authorship, featuring dynamic interactions among robotic arms, quadruped robots, their environment, and audience. The project employs a three-tiered "faith system" guiding the agents at micro, mesoscopic, and macro levels, enabling organic evolution of behaviors in response to environmental cues and audience presence. The work challenges prevailing notions of agency and authorship, exemplifying the convergence of cybernetic principles, robotic art experimentation, and conceptual-art rule-making.