Oriole Beta presents a project-based research study using Oriole—a custom-made plug-in for grasshopper 3D software, as a new tool for robotic videography. Oriole Beta is a parametric tool that enables designers to visualize/simulate the robotic videography, the camera path, and the camera aim digitally and in a precise way. Designers using Oriole Beta are able to use Rhino 3D and its node-based visual programming plug-in, Grasshopper 3D—as native design software platforms, to design a robotic camera motion with a fixed or animated target. Using a digital model and robotic simulation platforms for different industrial robots such as KUKA, ABB, and Universal, Oriole Beta enables designers to design/create a precise interaction between the robotic “camera” and the physical environment.
By investigating design students’ and designers’ experiences in using Oriole platform, this study demonstrated the potential of a digitally controlled physical robotic camera, not only as a representational tool but also as a new outlook to interactively evaluate the tangible outcome of the design process through the lenses of the robot as an architectural/design-oriented take on Machine-Vision.

Developing based upon earlier studies in robotic controlling and creative robotics, Oriole Beta is part of ongoing research that questions two potentials of robotically controlled/manipulated perspectives:
1.    Possible new ways of interaction and user experience development with physical/tangible mediums to enhance the continuity of the cyber-physical experience.
2.    A new design tool to produce design feedback based on robotically controlled camera in interaction with physical models as a way to modify the digital design.
To study these questions, there is a need for communication between the robotic camera and the digital camera in the design software. On the other hand, and due to the diversity of the possible users, to maximize the usability, Oriole Beta needed to be adaptable with different controlling platforms for industrial robots, including KUKA, ABB, and Universal.
To achieve the goal of adaptability, Oriole Beta can perform as a workflow plug-in and independent from the robotic/controlling software/plug-ins, acting as an addition to the digital simulation. In another world, Oriole uses the digital camera path and converts it into a parametric “animation” to generate a motion path for the robot arm (regardless of the robot brand) as means of communication between the digital camera and the robot path generator.