Choreographing the Way of Water: A Computational Framework for Aquatic Robotic Art

Aswin Karthik Ramachandran Venkatapathy, Christopher Golling, Sebastian Burmester, Noa Sendlhofer, Ruiheng Jiang, Jan Kamm, and Raffaello D'Andrea

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

Robotic choreography in open water is governed by nonlinear fluid dynamics, which impose significant challenges due to environmental disturbances and nonlinear system dynamics. This paper presents the cyber-physical architecture of Way of Water, a vertically integrated framework that orchestrates a fleet of autonomous surface vessels as a distributed choreographic platform. Moving beyond the surface-pixel paradigm, these vessels use laminar nozzles and multi-zone lighting to extend their expressive range from the 2D water plane into the 3D volumetric domain. Our primary contribution is the Way of Water Studio, a browser-based, timeline-compositing authoring paradigm that treats the fleet as a DAW-like instrument for music-responsive choreography. The Studio encapsulates Sequential Convex Programming for trajectory generation and Model Predictive Control for disturbance rejection, presented through a visual timeline, broadening access to high-performance aquatic robotics for non-programmer artists. Grounding the Studio is the full cyber-physical stack: a custom holonomic chassis, a state-estimation and control stack tuned for the aquatic domain, and an LTE/MQTT fleet link with RTK-GPS time synchronization. We report on the system's validation across two distinct deployments: an 18-vessel Swan Lake interpretation at Lake Zurich and an 8-vessel Time Space Existence 2025 Venice Biennale demonstration at Forte Marghera, establishing a foundational reference for the design and deployment of fluidic robotic swarms.

Citation

Aswin Karthik Ramachandran Venkatapathy, Christopher Golling, Sebastian Burmester, Noa Sendlhofer, Ruiheng Jiang, Jan Kamm, and Raffaello D'Andrea. 2026. Choreographing the Way of Water: A Computational Framework for Aquatic Robotic Art. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20784218 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{nime2026_69,
 abstract = {Robotic choreography in open water is governed by nonlinear fluid dynamics, which impose significant challenges due to environmental disturbances and nonlinear system dynamics. This paper presents the cyber-physical architecture of Way of Water, a vertically integrated framework that orchestrates a fleet of autonomous surface vessels as a distributed choreographic platform. Moving beyond the surface-pixel paradigm, these vessels use laminar nozzles and multi-zone lighting to extend their expressive range from the 2D water plane into the 3D volumetric domain. Our primary contribution is the Way of Water Studio, a browser-based, timeline-compositing authoring paradigm that treats the fleet as a DAW-like instrument for music-responsive choreography. The Studio encapsulates Sequential Convex Programming for trajectory generation and Model Predictive Control for disturbance rejection, presented through a visual timeline, broadening access to high-performance aquatic robotics for non-programmer artists. Grounding the Studio is the full cyber-physical stack: a custom holonomic chassis, a state-estimation and control stack tuned for the aquatic domain, and an LTE/MQTT fleet link with RTK-GPS time synchronization. We report on the system's validation across two distinct deployments: an 18-vessel Swan Lake interpretation at Lake Zurich and an 8-vessel Time Space Existence 2025 Venice Biennale demonstration at Forte Marghera, establishing a foundational reference for the design and deployment of fluidic robotic swarms.},
 address = {London, United Kingdom},
 articleno = {69},
 author = {Aswin Karthik Ramachandran Venkatapathy and Christopher Golling and Sebastian Burmester and Noa Sendlhofer and Ruiheng Jiang and Jan Kamm and Raffaello D'Andrea},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.20784218},
 editor = {Benedict Gaster and João Tragtenberg and Anna Xambó and Tom Mitchell},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 note = {},
 numpages = {8},
 pages = {585--592},
 title = {Choreographing the Way of Water: A Computational Framework for Aquatic Robotic Art},
 track = {Paper},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2026/nime2026_69.pdf},
 year = {2026}
}