This thesis demonstrate my artistic practice and research exploring empathy and human-machine interaction in projects involving robotic art and video installations and performance. The works investigate emotions and embodiment, presence and absence, relationships and loss, and ways to implicate these ideas in encounters between technology-based artwork and the viewer.
This paper presents the framework of my practice, followed by descriptions, statements, and excerpts from my journal describing how, for both of my main projects developed during the past two years in the MFA program at The Ohio State University, I went through several numerous stages in which the projects were designed, tested and were modified as my new designs evolved, failed, and were modified. The purpose of this thesis is to show my process, to establish the continuum and consistency of my research and interests, and to expand on how my work relates to the traditions and discourse of new media art.