Curious Displays | Julia Y. Tsao

Julia Y. Tsao

julia.yu.tsao@gmail.com

Introduction / Preliminary Research / Ideas & Content / The Project: Curious Displays / PROJECT DEVELOPMENT / Experiential Prototype / Conclusion

ROBOTIC DISPLAYS

Robotic Pixels is an interaction design experiment dealing with the implications of distributed and networked interaction, through physical space. The project involves six giant robotic "pixels," each functioning as a standalone unit in the overall integrated display system, that move and act based off actions sent to each remote system from a centralized brain. The project functions as an experimental research component in the larger scope of my thesis project, and attempts to gain an understanding of movement and media in physical space, moving through it, engaging with environments and, ultimately, with people.

The goal was to create a very lo-fi experience involving relatively large individual robots, aiming to gain a sense of the potential of distributed interactions. The user is asked to push a single button to activate the system. In response to the single button press, six separate "pixels" come alive and react in a synchronized manner and walk toward the user. The experience is a bit of a hybrid one--halfway between a remote controlled car and a sad puppy as it stumbles and clunks around the room. The project is designed to be a very lo-fi experience, and as a whole is charming and somewhat pathetic, and somehow imbues the little robots with a bit of soul and will. It feels like the bots are trying very hard to please you as they clunk around the room, and there is really something endearing in the unabashed single-mindedness of their behavior.