• Creation of an entertainment agent (computer generated character living in a computer interface) available on the Internet and development of its artificial intelligence software.

• Production of a series of short, humorous 3D sequences for television broadcasting, showing one or more hyper-realistically rendered Bumps.

• Manufacturing of intelligent and autonomous domestic micro-robots about 10 cm high.

• Who are they ?

The Bumps are a species of small beings (about 10 cm high) with both male and female individuals. Females’ skins are bright orange, sometimes with a purplish hue, while males vary from blue to green. The Bumps’ skin color can vary slightly depending on their emotions, health or environment (temperature, weather). Their skin is rough and smooth on exposed body parts. Male Bumps are often muscular and fit, and virtually hairless (at the most they grow 3 or 4 hairs on their torsos or on their heads). Female Bumps display very feminine figures.

Three fingers on each hand – what more do you need ?

The Bumps’ very expressive eyes blink and they use a pair of feelers to highlight facial expressions – from a graphic standpoint, these feelers behave like eyebrows. Two small holes on either side of the head (level with the eyes) act as ears. Only when the Bumps eat or speak, do their beak-like mouths appear. Most of the time, the Bumps’ mouths and nostrils do not move and are therefore invisible. The mouth can also be used to enhance certain emotions.

The Bumps only have 3 fingers on each hand, and no toes. Their neck can stretch a little when items are out of reach, or to show a reaction. Finally, they do not wear clothes and they display their anatomy without modesty. They are neither beautiful nor ugly, their skin texture is very tactile, and the female’s generous figure is pleasing . All in all, the Bumps are rather attractive.

The Bumps are rather attractive.

Stoutly build, the Bumps move around a bit clumsily, although they can have quick and precise gestures. Their biological functions are similar to ours: they need to eat and they are omnivores. They have internal organs and they bleed dark blood. Although particularly resistant, they are mortal (they can even kill each other). They are devoid of super-powers or magical abilities. They reproduce and show individual physical and psychological characteristics from birth. The Bumps can (and must) be provided with a education (good or bad), either by another Bump or by a human. They speak their own language, a series of grumbling and strident noises, to communicate with each other and with us. That said, they are not very talkative and their rather complicated language requires some learning before all the subtleties can be grasped.

Evolution-wise, the Bumps are located half-way between Mankind and animals. They do not have long-term goals, and most of the time they are happy to just live and watch us live. They have a thriving sexuality, and fornication is one of their main activity/motivation. Their social structure is very simple: the Bumps have no jobs, no social classes, no religion … They have been known to live as couples or in groups, but most of the time they are lone individuals. Sexually, socially and psychologically, the male is equal to the female, although specific personality traits can alter typical gender-induced behaviors. Females are often more cunning and head-strong than males, which are more naïve and passive. But it is difficult to know if these personality traits are representative of the Bumps because they love to imitate the humans they are close to!In fact, they display complex personality traits and behaviors, and they are good at hiding their true intentions. They do not cry easily but they can be sensitive and they have feelings. Expressing these feelings is a task on its own.

Because the Bumps take most of their behaviors from humans, their “overall behavior” appears to be very similar to ours. On the other hand, having the taboos, morals and the notion of good and evil of animals, their actions are sometimes very surprising. The Bumps sometimes appear to be provocative and they can shock and upset the fundamental principals that we have come to accept as governing our lives in social groups.

The Bumps are of unknown origin – they don’t come from anywhere, they don’t have a specific environment. They are “omni-media” characters, they are not linked to a specific medium. They are neither comic book, cartoon nor book characters. They are usually represented against a white background, without any scenery, an empty context devoid of any outside influence, of any social or moral constraint. In this environment, they are subject to the same physical laws we humans are subject to in our world (gravity, time, daily cycle, weather variations, etc.). The only exception being the size of the props they use which have been scaled down to fit them. This is because the Bumps standing in front of a white background are actors to whom we (*) have provided props that they can use to act out a story. When the Bumps are present in a “real” (human) environment, they are confronted to a disproportionate world due to their small size (10 cm). They can make quick guest appearances in films, television commercials, software –anywhere you can import living or virtual beings. In all cases, the Bumps will adapt and even establish relationships with the environments in which they have been immersed.

Both Max and Lucy, the original Bumps modeled in 2001, display the general visual characteristics of their species, but 3D graphics models are also available that display the Bumps’ features and behaviors in such detail as to be able to compare these “3D avatars” to the “real” Bumps. These 3D models come with a set of animation instructions to enhance, amongst other things, how subtle “life” signals should be treated in order to breathe life into the models: breathing, sweating, facial and eye expressions, blinking, color changing, nervous twitching, etc.Nevertheless, Bumps are not just virtual representations of characters. 3D graphics is only used as the preferred method of representation, since so few of us have had the privilege to see a Bump for real …

(*) We : The humans in charge of writing the Bumps stories.

Management of the project’s various steps is centralized by an organization called BOA (Bumps Organization Agency), where the creators are located.

The objectives of THEBUMPSPROJECT are To offer the Bumps their first virtual existence;To extend their popularity by triggering a “Bumps phenomenon”; And eventually to give the Bumps a physical presence and an intelligence, while cultivating the doubt as to their true nature until the very first intelligent and autonomous domestic micro-robots are manufactured.

This requires that the following projects be run simultaneously:
1-expose the characters to as much media attention as possible (stories and Bumps);
2-launch a phase of Artificial Intelligence R&D (Bump agent and its AI software);
3-launch robotics R&D (Bump robot).

The Bumps have to become ubiquitous in our everyday lives, by conquering all the existing media, all over the world. The Bumps’ popularity permitting, commercial use of the characters will greatly help fund the R&D projects.

• Of stories and Bumps

The evolution of the Bumps, along with their history, will be told through small “aplaylets” (short animated sequences). Some playlets, broadcast on the Internet, will be used to extend the Bumps’ popularity on the web – and therefore in real life. These short animations will, little by little, serve to establish the Bumps’ past, create their historical background and build their reputation. The 3D models will be freely available on the web, enabling anyone from surfers to the BOA to contribute to this project.

Another type of story, the “skit”, will be given more scripting and storytelling time and will benefit from stronger technology in order to produce 3D animated series for television broadcasting.
Most of the stories play on the ambiguity of the Bumps, nature: are they real or virtual characters? In the television series, for example, each episode will end with a “making of” epilogue in which the Bumps are briefly taken by surprise after the shooting is over … on a miniature set of our actual human world. The epilogues would also be a way to find out more about that episode’s director, each episode being partially or entirely handed out to famous (or unknown) directors. As the series unfolds, so does the lives of the Bump actors playing their own characters, as well as those playing Bump characters. The Bumps lead their own lives outside the series, and the mystery lies in the true nature of these lives.

• The Bump Agent and the web community

The Bump Agent is an entertainment agent / entertainment bot (computer generated character living in a computer’s graphic interface) developed on a Living-Actor base by combining an evolving behavioral software and a real 3D avatar. This character is made available on the Internet under GPL license.

The 3D Bump Agent is animated thanks to an AI piece of software.
It will obey you to the letter … when it wants to !
Its wish: to become ambassador to AI and robotics research.

This stage of the project requires an important R&D phase, and is dependant on the Internet’s ability to pool together willing and capable talent around a non-profit making project, to wit the development of an behavior software.The Bump Agent is a piece of AI software controlling the actions and reactions of the 3D representation it is combined to, in order to eventually control its “physical” equivalent, the Bump-robot.

Moreover, the Internet guarantees easy and large scale circulation of the various representations of the Bumps. It is therefore by this means of communication that the Bumps will try to gain popularity as they are building a bank of behaviors. The very first images and short animations will be distributed by email and referenced in web sites in order to increase their popularity. The 3D models used as reference will be made freely available on the web to make it very straightforward for anyone to use them in their creations.

Although this step is mainly intended to help define and set up the AI software that will be used to control the future Bump-robots, it will also be a good opportunity to get a fad going and to bring a community together around a playful world whose goals are adopting and educating the Bumps.

“Bumps Responsible For Asian Scandal Head For Rest Of The World!” When the very first animations and images begin to surface on the web, even before the first on-line appearance of the Bump Agent, the Bumps will have been successfully preceded by their reputation, making internet-savvy techies feel like they’ve missed-out on something important if they haven’t heard of them. This “guilty” feeling will trigger the need to become part of the Bumps tutor community, to adopt a Bump and to spread the rumor that the Bumps are among us even further. The project’s successful launch depends on the strength of the rumor and its power to generate a fashion trend even before the project is officially launched. This fashion trend will gain momentum when the Bumps’ provocative behavior becomes well known and after they start their spreading massively.

Each Bump, after its adoption on the web (i.e. after it’s been downloaded on a hard drive) is managed by his “web-tutor” who can either watch the Bump live its life, or use the behavior libraries at his disposal to select plug-ins to control the Bump’s evolution. Behavioral libraries can provide code for performing tricks, develop personality traits, start a rock band, participate in an on-line boxing or football game, etc.

If a tutor is good enough to teach the Bumps new tricks or develop or upgrade specific behaviors, they will be considered “educators”. They will be allowed to pool their code into the behavior library in order to make it available for tutors and other educators. It is assumed that all participants agree to the principal of freeware for this code-sharing, since the entire project is based on the free circulation of assets.

The adoption of a Bump does not bind you to any obligation of any kind.“Bump Agents” are free, like all representations of the Bumps (as long as it’s not for commercial use) and they come in a large variety. Access to behavior libraries pooling bits of code developed by the web community also come entirely free: educators contribute code not for compensation, but for the pleasure of being an active member of a community and for the pride of submitting high-quality assets. (Authors of behavioral code would be entitled to financial compensation and/or royalties through a proper contract established with the BOA, should their assets be used for commercial purposes).Educators contribute to the original set up and constant maintenance of a global library of behaviors. This library feeds the AI BUMP Software, which will eventually be used to control the perception, moves and actions/reactions of Bump-robots and Bump Agents (their 3D agents).

Fan sites and independent web sites referencing the official Bump web site will be encouraged as they can only benefit the project by increasing the popularity of the characters. But the official web site should remain under the control of the BOA and should retain responsibility for its content. In order to limit the concept’s creators’ responsibility, libraries could be graded according to their reliability.Bumps are not dangerous – they are not computer viruses or parasites. They are not spies or information collection agents either. Deliberately misusing the Bumps, although part of the characters’ evolution process, is the sole responsibility of its educator. Such an educator, who contaminates one or more Bumps with virus code, or deliberately uses the Bumps’ abilities to fulfill their own unlawful or dangerous agenda will be dubbed a “Crapule” and will have to take full responsibility for the damage done by their code.

• Bump-robots

The ultimate goal of THEBUMPSPROJECT is the manufacture of a prototype, followed by the commercial released of intelligent and autonomous “Bump-robots”. Their realism and learning abilities will make them as perfect life companions, not unlike pets.

In addition to the development of this powerful BUMP AI software, the project’s specificity lies in the fact that the robot’s visual aspect and global behavior make it appear like a living being, and not like a machine or a toy. The goal to achieve is to obtain a creature that looks, feels and sounds as much like an animal as possible, thanks to the use of new technologies and material. The Bumps’ small size (10 cm) and the great number of moves and behaviors we expect it to have will require that available technologies be used in a non-traditional way in order to successfully build the prototype’s (Max) mechanics and energetic systems.

Therefore, other technologies to explore include remote AI using radio-waves to communicate with a computer (as opposed to on-board AI), intelligent material such as AMF (Muscle Wires), piezo-electric or even polymer elements instead of micro-motors to replace the muscles. These represent as many technical challenges and we can foresee a lengthy R&D phase before Bumps can become … pets.

The official website for TheBumpsProject organizes Bumps meetings, competitions and games. These activities bring together members of the Bump community and contribute to the development of the Bumps’ abilities and their social skills. Naturally, tutors who enroll their Bumps in “underground” events (Bumps fights, etc) do so at their own risks. The BOA wishes to remind you that a Bump that has been killed cannot be brought back to life!

Bump enthusiasts can be:

TUTORS, when they adopt (i.e. download) a Bump from the Internet;
EDUCATORS, when they actively participate in the development of behaviors ;
CRAPULES, when they deliberately misuse the Bumps in order to setup dishonest or illegal commercial ventures.
The CREATORS (i.e. BOA) are responsible for the species’ genesis and therefore the sole managers of the official structure coordinating the project’s development.