In the 21st century, robots have become widespread. However, they are in rigid, isolated forms. How can we speculate a future in which soft robotics also exist, beyond industrial applications? What happens if these machines are integrated into daily life, and thus become a part of our furniture? What if rather than serving, furniture responded, with ambiguous ambient interaction that suggests life?
Working in a collaborative design team of different years, I was responsible for the material research, electronics setup, and storytelling. The goal of this speculative and exploratory design process was to mirror the characteristics of furniture. While technology already exists in household applicances, they output complex functionality. However, our goal was different; we wanted a robot that showcased a quiet shift of form, not function. This was an intentional choice to reflect the passive characteristic of furniture, prioritizing the balance of ambiguity and feedback.
This project contributed to my PDP in the goal of blending science and emotion, art and tech. While my 1st year projects often employed hard engineering, VIVUS challenged me to work with softness and uncertainty, with its expansion and contraction from air doing the communication. From this, I realized that interaction does not always have to be meaningful or active; there is a certain beauty in noticing what is passive.
Looking ahead, I want to blend art and tech to be more homogeneous. This will be done by looking at material behaviors and how they react in an adapative environment. I plan to pursue the irony of using such an active medium to create a quiet result, learning about how the process of combining two opposites create meaning. Ultimately, I will create designs that co-exist with humans, and not those that work for us.
Shape Exploration
Prototyping
Demo Day
