Mind Over MotherboardRobot guides meditation sessions.

A robot might not be an obvious choice to lead a meditation session — after all, what could an artificial “mind” know about mindfulness? — but take a moment to visualize this: Warm light filters through the windows of OSU’s Marigold Center, the home of the Contemplative Studies Initiative. At the room’s center is Heather Knight, assistant professor of computer science, and her robot Theora — four feet tall, sleek white, 65 pounds, mindfulness guru. “Turn your attention to the night sky,” Theora says, “envisioning the moon as a powerful motherboard radiating cosmic energy.” Knight, along with an interdisciplinary team of graduate students, has programmed Theora to use large-language models to guide and respond to human meditation practices. (Knight’s work often pairs performing arts with robotics; she also runs a bot theater company called Marilyn Monrobot.) This workshop, in June 2024, was the last in a series of six designed to coincide with each month’s new moon. Next up? A robot meditation retreat (for humans).