YOU&AI:
RELATIONSHIPS
WITH SOCIAL
ROBOTS
HOW COULD INTELLIGENT ENTITIES IMPACT AND CREATE RELATIONSHIPS?
As robots and artificially intelligent entities start comforting us emotionally, we asked ourselves how the world of a ‚homo futuris‘, the human of the future, could develop.
YOU&AI investigates and speculates societal and emotional phenomena in human-robot interactions: communication, relationships, romance, empathy, responsibility, and eventually the immortality of technology as opposed to the ephemeral human body.
The project started as a collaborative Bachelor’s project with Nora Strebel at the Zurich University of the Arts, Department Design: Industrial-and Product Design, 2018
WHAT IF
A MUSEUM
COULD DISPLAY FRAGMENTS OF THE FUTURE, INSTEAD OF
THE PAST?
WHAT COULD
THE LIFE OF A “HOMO FUTURIS” LOOK LIKE?
ARTIFACTS OF THE FUTURE IS A POP-UP EXHIBITION INVITING THE PUBLIC TO ACCESS COMPLEX RESEARCH ON INTERACTIONS WITH ROBOTS AND SOCIETAL TRANSFORMATION IN AN EXPLORATIVE, IMMERSIVE, AND EMOTIONAL MANNER.
The exhibition contains 3 stations to explore possible scenarios, artifacts, and services. It is supported by a spacial data matrix, visualizing over 200 questions and quotes on human-interaction robots from international experts across the industry.
HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR ROBOT?
DATEBOT — A SERVICE FOR FIRST DATES WITH CUSTOMIZED PARTNERS
‚Datebot displays a service design offered by a fictional dating company called Realbots. At Realbots, humans can order humanoid robots as their “perfect partners” online. The claim for perfection lies in the hyperindividualisation of the humanoid product: Each robot is customized based on the digital footprints of the client. Allowing datebot to collect and merge data from various institutions and platforms, alledgedly offers a more fitting and precise partner and User Experience. The customization of are individually designed to please their human counterpart in their aesthetics, haptics and external characteristics.
However, our research suggest that current and future interactions with humanoid robots are not necessarily similar to the relationships between humans.
The love letter and conversation hint a new form of relationships between humans and robots — a relationship that is not yet experienced.
DATEBOT displays a variety of phenomena: From hyperindividualistic and data-driven user-experiences, to the status quo in dating robots and the questions of surprise, control, and commitment in digital matchmaking.
COULD ROBOTS DEVELOP THEIR OWN LANGUAGE?
CYPEARL — WHEN NEW LANGUAGES REQUIRE NEW TRANSLATION TOOLSWhat happens when intelligent devices communicate with each other autonomously? Do we aspire to become part of the internet of things? How can humans participate in the worlds they create, when they may be exclusive by nature?
Cypearl could be the tech jewellery of the future: An implant, that translates information into the brain via bone conduction. The pearl is a cursor that changes volume and timeline of the data exchange. It’s present in our everyday life and available in all languages. But why would we need this?
The idea is based on the status quo (2018) of technology: Autonomous chatbots developing their own language, robots being connected to the same cloud and interchanging data between robots located across the globe.
Ubiquitous technology and data exchange between intelligent systems is rapid and constant, regardless of its lack of tangibility through our current senses.
Cypearl tells a story about data security, communication, and the attempt to turn into Cyborgs.
Whether this story is a desirable future scenario, shall be debated.
WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR ROBOT WHEN YOU PASS AWAY?
HEXAGON TRANSITIONS — INSURANCE MODELS FOR HUMAN-ROBOT-RELATIONSHIPS
How do we deal with new responsibilities that emerge from creating artificial intelligence and emotions? What happens to ‘mental-commitment-robots’ when they were created for interaction, but lose their human counterpart? Will they suffer from our absence? Should we provide any programs before we pass away?
Derived from current interactions with existing mental-commitment robots in healthcare, the advertisement is an extrapolation of the status quo — from the perspective of insurances. Hexagon Transitions is tech-company that offers insurances for autonomous technological entities that have been trained to commit to their human counterpart and mourn human loss.