The robots are here! How can designers use social exchanges to inform the process of designing them? Join our speaker for a rousing look at everyday products through the lens of dynamic behaviors, with lessons from robotics along the way.
Everyday life has recently gotten a boost from science fiction as robotics and artificial intelligence have become a part of home, work, medicine, sports, and pretty much every other aspect of life.
We are accustomed to considering the minimal and efficient interactions that need to take place in order to exchange information between product and person, but now have a much wider palette to explore some of the more subtle social cues that can reinforce effective communication as well as build trust and emotional bonds. Things that were once silent and static can now sing, glow, buzz, and be tracked online. Some are constantly listening for sounds, sights, and touches to translate into meaningful inputs. Others have the ability to learn, refining their behaviors over time. They can be connected to one another as well as the Internet and will behave as social entities that accompany us through all aspects of everyday life.
This talk will explore the emergence of robotics in the home, highlighting designers’ opportunities to pioneer new territory in rich interaction, taking inspiration from the social interaction that takes place naturally between people and their products. It will include case studies from the front lines of design and creative technology, showcasing my work designing the robot Moxi, a socially interactive hospital assistant for her client Diligent Robotics. By examining our everyday interactions through a social lens, I’ll discuss how the sociology of products can help us create products that perform better than their less social counterparts.
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Carla Diana
I am a designer, author, and educator who and my designs for robots have appeared on the covers of Popular Science, Technology Review, and the New York Times Sunday Review.
I have recently been granted the honor of creating the 4D Design Department at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, serving as its first Head. I collaborate with the Socially Intelligent Machines Lab at the University of Texas, Austin, where advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning are manifest in expressive robots and serve as the Head of Design for Diligent Robotics.
I write and lecture frequently on the social impact of robotics and emerging technology and created the world’s first children’s book on 3D printing, LEO the Maker Prince. I cohost the Robopsych Podcast, a biweekly discussion around design and the psychological impact of human-robot interaction.
I have a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Cooper Union and an MFA in 3D Design from Cranbrook Academy of Art.
