It is festival season and that means that in the next month there is so many great comedy festivals to look forward to! This month we are looking at some of the great shows that you can see at the Edinburgh Fringe. So take note because we are going to give you all the information you need for just a handful of some of the great shows happening this year!

Improbotics Presents: RoboTales

Location:   Nip – Gilded Balloon Patter House (Venue 24)

Dates:  Jul 30th -17th

Time: 19:40

Price: £13 Concessions £12

Ticket Link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/improbotics-presents-robotales

Hello! Tell us about yourself? 

Improbotics is a science comedy troupe. We create shows that connect audiences with some very experimental technology, engage audiences about AI ethics, perform grounded theatrical improvisation and entertain festival punters looking for comedy!

The idea of improvising with AI came to Piotr Mirowski (the show’s director) about 10 years ago, when it was still a fairly niche topic. Piotr was researching and building AI (like, for instance, language models), while also performing on stage as an actor and improviser. One day he tried to improvise on stage with a robot, powered by a language model that he coded-up himself. There was a strange connection between language models (who keep making stuff up and generate the most likely answer based on their training data) and improvisers (who strive at being spontaneous, and at always saying “the most obvious” thing, while also carefully listening to their stage partners). Obviously, the analogy between machines and improvisers stops there, but it was inspiring enough for Piotr to explore bringing an AI onto the theatre stage. Then Piotr met Kory Mathewson, another researcher in robotics and improv comedian at the Rapid Fire Theatre, who had the same idea: they became friends and set up a theatre company where human actors improvise alongside machines. The Improbotics’ ethos is to make your stage partner look good, even when it is a robot!

Thanks to the amazing, international cast of humans who came to shape the company, the shows have evolved quite a bit. Boyd Branch designed augmented reality shows that kept us connected and provided emotional support during Covid lockdowns, and is now directing our kid show. We improvised multilingual shows with live AI translation with the Swedish cast of Improbotics. And we explored AI as a tool for grounded, emotional improv with Sarah Davies and a very talented cast!

Tell us all about your show!

This year, we are bringing a new show to Edinburgh: RoboTales, which is an improvised choose-your-own adventure game, played in front of the audience by the talented cast of Improbotics. The twist in RoboTales is that a robot writes and directs the show. The bot uses speech recognition and state-of-the-art AI (we developed the software ourselves!) to analyse the improv scenes and generate silly new choices and strange transitions.

The audiences control the story by voting on their phones for their preferred choice (like a modern take on the choose-your-own adventure books), and then the actors take the story forward. It is like “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch”, brought to life by AI and the actors’ imagination and improv talent.

What other acts are you looking forward to seeing at the fringe?

Foxdog Studios: Robo Bingo Kids, The Grumpy Robot and Robot Vacuum Fight Club, of course! And if you want even more robots, we also have another show, A.L.Ex and ImproBots: How to Train Your Robot. Non-robot shows: Susan Harrison, #40sandsingle by Joyce Lao. And Improbotics cast members perform in TBC Absolute Improv, Crime Scene Improvisation, and Showstopper!

Have you done the fringe before? What are the key pieces of advice you have been given or would give to new groups or people performing at the fringe. 

When we first brought artificial intelligence improvisation to fringe back in 2017, we were overwhelmed and starstruck: there were so many shows to see! We recommend finding shows that resonate with you, and talking to their creators after their get-out. You may find support and make friends.

If this is your first time – what are you looking forward to?

For the first timers among our cast: actually being starstruck.

Talk us through your daily routine for a day at the Fringe

Morning walk/run. A good breakfast. And surprising as it may sound: get some non-fringe work done, to get you out of the Fringe madness.

Ok, where is your favourite place to eat at the Fringe? 

We surveyed the cast: Ting Thai Caravan, Bentoya (sushi), Sora Lella (vegan Italian), #Fish (fish and chips), Pizza Posto, Tuk Tuk Indian Street Food, and also just cooking at our accommodation!

Best thing about performing at the fringe?

To be creatively challenged by other acts.

What is the hardest part about performing at the Fringe?

The reviews; they may sting and put you in your head. Most of the time they are excellent constructive feedback, but… Back in 2017 and before our first Edinburgh Fringe ever, we had a very technical preview show that was happening simultaneously in London and in Portland, Oregon (via live connection), with two robots, two AIs, and four humans (two on each side of the ocean). Nothing worked, and one of the robots actually and literally crashed and burned on stage. The reviewer wrote a two-star review:  “Chaotic” and “Never work with robots”. Did we listen? Absolutely not!

Do you bring anything special from home to make it feel more special whilst you are away?

Hiking shoes.

What are your best hacks to save money whilst at the Fringe?

Raise concern about the insane housing prices during Fringe: something has to change to make the event sustainable!

What would be your top three items every performer must take to the fringe?

100W USB-C chargers for your laptop and phone. A big water bottle that you fill before get-in. And your sense of humour.

What’s the secret to successful flyering? 

We’ve been treating flyering as a form of warmup, doing it in costume (you will never guess what we are wearing…) and in character. I also love that we can engage with passers by about interesting questions on their perception of AI.

If people want to find out more about you, where can they follow you on social media?

https://instagram.com/improbotics, https://twitter.com/Improbotics and https://facebook.com/ImproboticsLtd  

And Finally in three words – Why should people come and see the show?

Humanity, robots, imagination.

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