Students Reengineer Robot for 'Winter Lights' Musical at Discovery Cube
Dec. 5, 2024 - Engineering students Ervin Grimaldi and Edison Ta revamped the star robot of the musical “Winter Lights,” which is showing at the Discovery Cube Orange County this holiday season. The musical is an inspiring story about a tenacious 17-year-old girl named Lumina at Santa Ana High School who strives to win a science fair award and get a scholarship to pursue a STEM degree at UC Irvine.
Lumina is played by UCI drama student Catherine Dosier among other actresses and she has a unique friend - a robot she created named Jean Luc. “The Jean Luc robot is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen on the stage,” said Dosier. “It’s stunning, gorgeous and super functional. He’s super expressive. Stuff lights up and toast pops out. It’s a beautiful piece of work.”
Jean Luc may be lovable, but he desperately needed an upgrade before his winter performances began. The UCI Robot Ecology lab had two weeks to get the job done. “When Jean Luc first arrived at the lab, he wasn’t functioning very well,” said Grimaldi, a senior who majors in computer science and engineering. “So what I did was bring to life his eyes by writing new software for it and I also helped rewire his electrical parts.”
His partner Ta, a mechanical engineering senior, designed all the mechanical upgrades which gave the robot a flashing heartbeat, a rotating waist and a much more ergonomic harness for the puppeteer who controls him. “I enjoyed applying all my CAD and 3D printing skills into this fun project,” Ta said.
UCI postdoctoral researcher Efraín Méndez said they also added a screen on the back of the robot so the puppeteer can see Jean Luc’s expressions. They also made him more energy efficient by halving the size of his printed circuit board, enabling it to run on fewer batteries
The musical was written and directed by Tony Award-winning Broadway veterans UCI alumnus Tim Kashani ’88 MBA and his wife Pamela Winslow Kashani. Though Tim studied computer science at UCI, he went on to produce the Broadway musicals “Hair,” “Memphis,” and “American in Paris.” He believes his STEM background is a great asset in the arts.
“Now the whole entertainment field is STEM based. One person can run the whole show by pushing a button for each cue that we’ve designed. Since I studied AI, I’m insanely relevant,” Kashani said. “ UCI changed my life. Getting that computer degree has opened so many doors.”
The musical is replete with UCI talent including Nita Mendoza ’21 M.A. as lighting designer, Garrett Gagnon ’21 MFA as sound designer, Morgan Embry MFA ’19 as video designer, and Mason Bergenholtz ’21 and Bri Westad ’23 MFA as production stage managers.
Dosier, who also plays two other characters, loved being a part of it all. “It’s for kids and it’s funny and silly, but it also deals with serious topics like family relationships and the struggles of women in science,” she said. “It’s overall meant to inspire joy and fun.”
Grimaldi was happy to be called upon to fix Jean Luc. “It was fun and great to be a part of a project that’ll affect kids,” he said. “That was the best part.”
“Winter Lights” is showing at the Discovery Cube in Santa Ana at select dates through December 23.
- Natalie Tso
