From summer 2023 to spring 2024, Amy Rose worked with the Air Giants team on their Giant Tactile Robots project within the framework of an R&D Fellowship (both funded by My World).
Amy is an immersive experience designer, with many years of working with narrative under her belt. The Fellowship was called “Giant Tactile Robots: Performance Contexts” and involved many months of working closely with the team on new prototypes of inflatable soft robots.
Amy is an immersive experience designer, with many years of working with narrative under her belt. The Fellowship was called “Giant Tactile Robots: Performance Contexts” and involved many months of working closely with the team on new prototypes of inflatable soft robots.
Areas of enquiry
The work of the Fellowship involved creative idea generation, testing prototypes with team members and with members of the public, research into new contexts for work and relevant artworks to inspire the team.
The aims were around how to evolve these new prototypes into larger pieces of experiential work that would contextualise them in unusual and magical ways - drawing on Amy’s background in experiential and narrative design. Giant (and not so giant) soft inflatable robots are, however, a unique form - and some time was spent exploring what these things can do, how they are made, what technologies are involved, what we might expect from those technologies, and what they feel like for audience members.
The work became anchored in a series of prototypes - which were tested on many audience groups in a variety of contexts, from the Pervasive Media Studio community to drop-in community groups at Knowle West Media Centre.
Each of these prototypes explored different qualities of tactile experience - and can be grouped according to how those qualities ask you, the audience member, to respond and behave. This page details some of the prototypes we explored.
The aims were around how to evolve these new prototypes into larger pieces of experiential work that would contextualise them in unusual and magical ways - drawing on Amy’s background in experiential and narrative design. Giant (and not so giant) soft inflatable robots are, however, a unique form - and some time was spent exploring what these things can do, how they are made, what technologies are involved, what we might expect from those technologies, and what they feel like for audience members.
The work became anchored in a series of prototypes - which were tested on many audience groups in a variety of contexts, from the Pervasive Media Studio community to drop-in community groups at Knowle West Media Centre.
Each of these prototypes explored different qualities of tactile experience - and can be grouped according to how those qualities ask you, the audience member, to respond and behave. This page details some of the prototypes we explored.
The Prototypes
BEHAVIOUR: MOVING YOU
PROTOYPE NAME: TUBE CHAIR
A breath to rise
Weightless drifting untethered
A million miles away
Tube Chair was developed to explore the subtleties of relaxing into something that would slowly move your body around. A moment where you can really sink into something, where you can really let go because it properly supports your weight (no matter how big or small you are). You are not touching the floor, so as you close your eyes and spend time - you gently drift into an altered state of being.
BEHAVIOUR: GRABBING YOU AND MOVING BITS OF YOU
PROTOTYPE NAME: THE CLAW
Brief stability
Friend or foe wobbles
Caught in a soft trap
Strangely atmospheric and characterful - like a giant plant or part of an animal. Being inside it as it breathed and moved around was very interesting and amusing! It had been intended to be able to move your limbs individually, but didn't quite have the force to do this effectively. This could be adapted by making it larger and would offer very strange and particular experiences which would be more dexterous than what we achieved with this round of prototypes.
BEHAVIOUR: SQUEEZING YOU
PROTOTYPE NAME: THE CLAMPER
The Clamper - but it held a lot of promise. This prototype was about exploring the mechanics of being properly squeezed - a full body squeeze. As an object for making a story or experience, it was more like a piece of moving architecture or furniture than a being with character. However, when inside and with additional sound this experience developed a lot and became compelling because of the full sensory nature of the encounter.
PROTOTYPE NAME: DAISY FINGER SUIT
Air pressing on me
Hold me move me, I let go
We breathe together
The Daisy Finger suit went on a big journey. Initially distrusted for its dangerous inclination to push people over, this prototype evolved into a focused exploration of the meaning (and pay off) of total physical surrender. Of all the pieces, Daisy Finger demands the most from the audience - which was too much for a small number of people offered the opportunity to get inside it. The sensation of being rolled around on the floor, as long as the floor was clean and forgiving, became a key element of the research into qualities of tactile experience.
PROTOTYPE NAME: THE REST OF THE SUITS
The other suits demanded more active participation and response from participants - and were fun to play with as a group.
BEHAVIOUR: YOU SQUEEZE IT
PROTOTYPE NAME: SOFA CREATURE
Sitting patiently
Nothing is demanded just
Be here for a time
Sofa Creature was an opportunity to explore the idea of making something you can commune with; something alive that has a sense of character, personality, its own past, intent and agency. A being who is breathing, sitting, waiting. Slightly otherworldly - and also not too serious.
PROTOTYPE NAME: THE CUSHIONS
The cushions offered a contained and easy opportunity to explore surface textile and alternative materials. Rather than being conceived in the long term as core elements of a story or experience, they acted as a stepping stone to other things.