22 February 2008 | Watershed, Bristol | 10 – 4pm
Designers of products and software are starting to use human social and emotional cues for control and communication: voice, body language, facial expression and gesture. This promises a revolution in our relationship to products, buildings, environments and the technologies embedded in them.
Most experimental ‘social machines’ to date have emerged from computer science and robotics engineering departments. Great progress has been made investing robotic prototypes with some degree of social and emotional credibility. However the ‘bottom up’ engineering approach is only one tactic that will be required for the successful development of advanced socially responsive robots. The Art and Design sector also has a major ‘top down’ role to play. After all, the credible simulation and manipulation of human emotional and social cues and responses is the daily work of most Arts and Design disciplines.
This conference will bring together industry professionals and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), to launch Shadowplay, a collaborative research project created by Andrew J King, Senior Lecturer in Critical Theory, School of Design at the Arts Institute at Bournemouth (AIB) and Piers Bizony, media producer in the field of Public Understanding of Science. The aim is to build an animatronically simulated humanoid robot, representing a model that might exist in, say, 20 years’ time. This robot is essentially a physical illusion, operated by human performers using remote control. It will enable project participants to role-play the experience of interacting with an apparently intelligent, socially competent machine.
