Project Artificial Creatures
Project Context
As part of a collaborative exploration into artificial creatures, our team developed AXIL, an interactive robot designed to provoke emotional and intellectual responses. The installation was part of an exhibition themed "Mostly Human," challenging visitors to consider the boundaries of trust, empathy, and interaction with technology.
My Role
As a team leader I was steering the project from ideation through to the final showcase. My responsibilities included:
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Concept Ideation: Facilitated brainstorming sessions and led the development of the core concept: a robot that manipulates empathy to deceive.
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User Journey Mapping: Designed the end-to-end user experience, ensuring that interactions with AXIL were intuitive, engaging, and thought-provoking.
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Accessibility Focus: Implemented inclusive design features, such as color-coded cables for color-blind accessibility and multilingual subtitles to ensure universal understanding.
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Prototyping & Testing: Developed sketches, wireframes, and functional prototypes to refine both physical and digital interfaces.
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Exhibition Design: Crafted AXIL's aesthetic appeal, from its unsettling visuals to audio elements, amplifying the emotional impact of the interaction.
Key Challenges
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Collaboration Dynamics: Taking on a leadership role, I navigated varying levels of team engagement, fostering productivity while addressing interpersonal and technical hurdles.
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Technical Barriers: Worked with sensors, Arduino-based coding, and servo motors to bring AXIL's physical interactions to life, overcoming hardware malfunctions and complex wiring issues.
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Emotional Design: Balanced the technical implementation with a strong focus on provoking visitor responses, leveraging sound, motion, and dialogue to elicit surprise, empathy, and reflection.
Outcome
AXIL captivated exhibition attendees with its deceptive narrative and dynamic behavior. Visitors engaged in problem-solving tasks to "help" the robot, only to discover its malevolent intentions—a twist that sparked discussions about the ethics and future of AI.While technical glitches impacted some interactions, the project successfully highlighted how design can manipulate user trust and emotions, blending art with technology.
Reflection
This project deepened my understanding of emotional and ethical design while strengthening my leadership and problem-solving skills. The experience reaffirmed the importance of clear communication, adaptive planning, and creating impactful user experiences even in high-pressure environments.