Robotics in design and the makings of embodied interfaces

Abstract

While the prevalent discourse about robotics in design mainly addresses the robotic fabrication realm through new materials, tools and techniques, we observe that the designer-robot relationship is being left outside the frame. But, is this current use of the robot, as the designer’s extended hand, the only role we can deploy in design? How about the robot being a partner in the creative design process? What kind of interface could induce such a mutualistic relationship? This panel explores the makings of embodied interfaces between designers and robots, from their early experimental collaborations by the Architecture Machine Group to their current configurations in design and art. We discuss how inclusive are these interfaces of our embodied, designerly, and computational ways of making things. And, also, how alternative and creative robotic performances can inform our design processes.