Robotic Xiàngshēng Theater: Designing Audio-Animatronics with Cartoon-Style Facial Expression for Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition

Abstract

Intangible Cultural Heritages (ICHs) of China span a wide range from handcrafts to folk performing arts. Although a variety of digital technologies are brought to support the inheritance and dissemination of ICHs in medias and museums, many technologies focus on video recording and displaying and lack of emerging experiences. As one of the famous Chinese ICHs, Xiàngshēng aka Crosstalk, is a folk stand-up comedy art with unique performing styles. It emphasizes facial and voice expressions. In this study, we propose a design method of robotic Xiàngshēng theater, in which two audio-animatronics actors - a wisecracker(dòu gén) We conducted observation studies and interviews of the audience. Findings show a positive result for the robotic Xiàngshēng theater.