R-Bus Autonumous Robot Bus in Kalasatama (2023)

R-Bus was a large-scale public artwork by Laura Beloff and a working group, commissioned by the Helsinki Art Museum (HAM) and the City of Helsinki. It featured a self-driving robot bus that operated in the developing Kalasatama and Sompasaari areas of Helsinki.

• The bus’s route decisions were governed by its own internal algorithmic logic, making the specific routes unpredictable for passengers.
• Despite this, the bus adhered to a scheduled series of bus stops, allowing passengers to board and engage with the artwork.
• The mix of pre-scheduled stops and algorithmically determined routes presented a unique logistical challenge.
• Inside the bus, an AI-generated soundscape interacted dynamically with the surrounding environment, creating a hybrid artistic and ecological experience.

My Roles and Responsibilities

• I worked on the project from November 2022 to the end of September 2023, taking on a variety of responsibilities.
• Initially, I was brought on as a producer, but my role expanded as I became part of the core development team.
• The core management team consisted of: Laura Beloff (artist), Marko Tandefelt (technical producer), and myself (producer and communications lead).
• Together, we navigated the complex and fast-paced production process, addressing all key challenges.
• I also acted as the primary point of contact for communications.
• Due to my then ongoing full-time programming studies, I proposed dedicating study project time to code the project’s website backend in collaboration with our lead web developer, John W. Fail.

Production Details

• We collaborated with a diverse group of stakeholders, managing different work cultures and expectations.
• Key partners included, Helsinki Art Museum (HAM), City of Helsinki, particularly the Division of Urban Environment, AuveTech (the robot bus company) and the bus operator company
• Numerous smaller but critical collaborators helped make the project a success.
• Contractual negotiations were particularly complex due to the multifaceted nature of the project.
• We worked within an unusually short production timeline for a public artwork of this scale.‍
• Key challenges included: planning the robot bus route in an area under construction, balancing the bus’s levels of autonomy and safety and overcoming continuous design and logistical obstacles.
• I played a key role in designing the route logistics from both a technical and audience interaction perspective, ensuring passengers could engage effectively with the bus.
• R-Bus artistic core team members in addition to the core production team were the invaluable ai/sound designers Jani Hietanen and Calvin Guillot.

Website Design

• In my role as communications coordinator, I led the planning of the web platform’s structure with our web developer, John W. Fail.
• Because of my ongoing programming studies, I suggested collaborating on the website’s backend development with John.
• I contributed to the overall information architecture and design of the website.
• While John and I developed most of the site together, he took over towards the end as I shifted focus to the event production.
• We co-designed the interactive route and bus stop map, which included:
  • Changing schedules
  • Real-time bus location tracking
• This map was crucial for helping the audience board the bus on time.
• Read more about my work on the API from here.

Route Planning vs Autonomous Algorithmically Defined Route Choices

• One of the most fascinating challenges was balancing the bus’s autonomous algorithmic decision-making with its need to follow a predefined bus stop schedule.
• This required careful planning to allow both autonomy and predictability for audience engagement.
• We devised an interactive map that provided real time tracking of the bus in the area, the next bus stop information, and schedule for each stop. The routes between the stops were randomly generated by the buses on algorithm.
• The routes of each driving section were also drawn out on the map, but provided only aesthetic element to the piece.
• An article delving deeper into this topic will be published later.

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