Heather Knight is nervous. When it comes to live demos, there aren't guarantees. And she doesn't want her unveiling of Data to fail in front of a crowd of scientists, engineers, and educators. Perhaps she's too overanxious, given her track record in the robotics field. While conducting her doctoral research at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute, she has been running Marilyn Monrobot, which creates socially intelligent robot performances and sensor-based electronics art. Her résumé notes other impressive experience, too, including robotics and instrumentation at NASA's jet propulsion laboratory.

Will Data, named after the popular Star Trek character, enhance her reputation for intersecting robotics and performance arts or, she worries, “Will I become sidelined in the field and forgotten about?"

Data is a comedian. A robot comedian. He not only tells a joke, but also measures the audience's response in order to assess what to say next. In other words, if Data bombs, he will know it. As will his creator. The performance is part of a conference hosted by TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), which is an international nonprofit based in New York City devoted to giving innovators an interdisciplinary platform to present fresh ideas. Knight doesn't know which routine Data will select, nor how the audience will respond to the two-foot-tall, mechanical jokester. With nerves of steel (plastic?), Data faces the crowd:

"So a doctor says to its patient, 'I have bad news and worse news. The bad news is that you only have 24 hours to live.'

"'That's terrible,' says the patient, 'How could the news possibly be worse?'

"'The doctor says, 'I've been trying to contact you since yesterday.'"

Laughter erupts, partly because the joke is humorous, but also, in all likelihood, because the audience can't believe it's a robot that's eliciting the laughs. All who liked the joke raise a green card, which allows Data to choose another joke based on the reaction. Had it been a rough crowd, red cards would have indicated to Data that more jokes in that vein wouldn't be a good career move.

Knight is heartened to hear the chuckles as the audience makes an emotional connection with Data: "You could feel the energy in the room crackle. People woke up."

More jokes followed without a glitch. Data was such a hit that, when the routine was over, TED founder, Chris Anderson, tweeted about it, calling the comedian: "hilarious!"

Lisa Kay Davis (HS'09)