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A Bunch of Robots Are Roaming Around the Tate Gallery at Night

'After Dark' lets you sneak around the museum after hours via robot sidekick.
After Dark robot with Henry Thomson's 'The Raising of Jairus’ Daughter,' 1820. Image: Alexey Moskvin c 2014

Last night, after human visitors had left the historic halls of the Tate Britain gallery in London, a group of robots came to life to explore the museum's impressive collections.

The four bots will be back again tonight, and will make four more nocturnal outings, in  a project called "After Dark." The idea is to let human art aficionados have their own chance at experiencing a night left alone in the gallery; the robots are equipped with lights and cameras that live-stream everything they see, so you can check out the paintings undisturbed. Or watch a robot struggle through a doorway in the dark.

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Exactly what viewers see will depend on those entrusted with the robots' controls, and the project's creators recognise some people might be more inclined to try chasing another bot around the corridors or bashing into a door than perusing the art on show. Ross Cairns of  design studio The Workers told me that there's a high demand for the robots' controls—you can request a go on the website—and that those who create the most interesting feeds will probably find they get a longer turn.

After all, lots of people are watching. Visit the After Dark site between 10pm and 3am (or slightly earlier on Friday, for those who have an earlier bedtime), and you'll see a split-screen of the four robo-cam views. The controllers can direct them to move, rotate, and tilt their "head"—to cast their spotlight eyes to a Turner painting high on a wall, for instance. A couple of commentators help to make sense of the stream.

As for those hoping for a more Robot Wars-style experience, Cairns said it won't happen, as there are sensors on the bots to stop them bashing into priceless works (and bumpers in case all else fails). "It's incredibly easy not to hit stuff with the robots; it's just about getting the right balance so the sensors allow people to move through doors and navigate freely without accidentally hitting an artwork," he said.

After Dark robot with Jacob Epstein's The Visitation (1926). Image: Alexey Moskvin c 2014

The robots themselves were built in collaboration with RAL Space, which is more used to working with the UK Space Agency on instrument design. The organisation got in touch when After Dark won the IK Prize and the chance to get their work in the Tate; they consulted on which hardware The Workers should use for the robots, which largely consist of off-the-shelf components like Arduinos and Rasperry Pis.

"We're not really inventing anything new here; we're just taking lots and lots of little bits of technology across the whole spectrum of the project and linking them together into something new," said Cairns.

The biggest challenge, he said, was sticking to battery-run tech and setting up a really low-latency feed so users could watch live (and avoid losing control of the robots over a few seconds delay).

Aside from the novelty of a bunch of robots trundling around a 19th century gallery in the dark, it's the real-time output that makes the project so much fun. "It's the space we want to capture," explained Cairns, who pointed out that if you wanted a purely digital experience, you could find higher-res versions of the artworks on Wikipedia or the Tate's website.

That, and the rebellious glee of roaming around where you're not usually allowed to go thanks to a robotic sidekick.