The aim of the project was to develop an interaction between humans and robots that takes into account both parties in a thoughtful and empathetic manner. We employed a more-than-human design approach, recognizing the importance of robots as active participants that have agency. The interaction tries to create empathy in the human actor towards the robot, which might as well have concerns about interacting with humans, just like humans have fears of technology.
Inspiration
Before the semester started, I had a course week about art & tech installations during which
my concept to encourage people to slow down to fully enjoy an artwork did not get a great reception, because the interaction I proposed was practically no interaction (do not move). I wanted to explore the same concept further involving another system, a robot.
My intention was to get people engaged and empathetic towards this creature we are building, which is a sentient being which has trust issues with people. The participant should be patient and tame the robot.
Interest
My major is interaction design, which is why the focus of the process was to research the ways we could interact with another entity, what the experience feels and what kind of reflections we may have while considering the involvement of that other entity.
Documentation
Throughout our process we had many iterations, and we shaped our next steps based on the reflections we gathered along the way. The project helped us to learn about 3D modelling and printing so that we became more confident in the field. Experimenting with the electronics and conductive paint gave us a whole new level of mindset regarding prototyping tangible interfaces that we were already able to utilize in other courses.
The final setup includes the following elements. Firstly, we 3D printed a publicly available pin art object and a linear actuator for a servo motor. We fixed interchangeable 3D printed shapes to the top of the actuator. The border of the top panel is painted with conductive paint, in order to make it work as an antenna. Through the screws the object is put together we connected a Touch Board microcontroller that controls the servo motor based on the proximity of the approaching hand.
Reflection
The entire semester was a great learning experience, which makes me wish it was longer, so we could go on an explore further. Compered to other courses or my experience in design so far, applying the research through design methodology was first a bit unfamiliar, as we couldn’t see where we will end up, but as we progressed, it became more and more enjoyable. My biggest achievement was breaking down my frustration regarding 3D modelling and could reach a point where I could design a simple object that I had in mind from zero experience. Another notable gain is that at this point I approach 3D printing without any fears.
Current Status
By the end of the semester, we could finalize the proof of concept object. We showed it to many students and teachers on the university and everyone enjoyed playing with it, which brings me to the conclusion that we succeeded in providing a way to interact with a non-human entity in a thoughtful way.
Future Development
We already started to work on the second version of the concept that has a 30×30 cm surface and we are exploring sideways movements and following with the help of MediaPipe’s hand landmark detection and a XY movement mechanism. It will also contain lights to be able to convey the robot’s attitudes better. We kept working with hexagon shapes and based our 3D model on a NASA space fabric experiment’s model.
Shout out
Thank you Renáta and Kálmán for the continuous support and for letting us take a peek into your world. I hope our cooperation doesn’t stop here, and we can work together on the second version of ‘the thing’ we are creating.
