Page 299 - AC/E's Digital Culture Annual Report 2015

AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2015299direct from their computer. The visits with these robots allow users to control their visits to the exhibition rooms via the panoramic camera on each robot, zooming and panning to look where they like, at what they find most interesting; digital content is provided about the objects on display, images and videos available exclusively to virtual visitors; finally, the robot respondsto questions on the exhibitions, all through the browser. They may therefore be considered antecedents to the project at Tate in 2014.But the most revolutionary example is that of Tate, which made the news due to an event called After Dark consisting of an online guided night visit through its rooms conducted by a robot.215For five nights people from all over the world could follow the online tour of the museum thanks to four robots equipped with lights, cameras and sensors designed to move through the rooms in the dark. A few lucky virtual visitors even had the opportunity to control the movements of the robots.The different uses that can be given to these machines in the museum environment include the example of Pablito,216 the robot used by MNCARS in the restoration of its paintings.Its purpose is to take photographs that help experts analyse the pieces to be restored, pro- viding high-quality information. It is equipped with infrared and ultraviolet devices to capture images that show possible flaws, cracks, repaint- ing or losses of paint, while remaining at a safe distance so as not to harm the work.In addition, today there are hundreds of museums, mostly scientific, that use robots with various specific uses in their educational workshops. They are very useful for offering schoolchildren and young people technical and scientific knowledge based on experience and experimentation. The visitors learn about their functioning, programming and can even make their own prototypes.Some of the institutions that use these devices for educational purposes are LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, which holds workshops on drones; the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, which has held several workshops entitled Desafío Robot (Robot challenge); Lon- don’s Science Museum, with its robot Safari, and the Seattle Museum of Flight, through its Robot Garage programme.Night view with robots at Tate6. Artificial intelligence and robots