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2006 Rockefeller New Media Foundation Proposal

Author
Dobson, Kelly
Abstract
In Companion Projects I am specifically contesting the domestic robots marketed to
people of all ages by creating robots with complicated psychological states similar to those that
people might have, such as anxiety, neuroses, and psychoses. Omo, Amo, and Umo are three
series of soft, lap sized, egg shaped, organ-like robots with secret lives, strange reactions,
uncanny communications and neurotic propensities. They are held by people, and communicate
through body signals. They are responsive to people (and animals, and machines) interacting
with them, but unlike machines designed as consumer items, these robots are designed to be
provocatively unstable. They are not emotionally subordinate, soothing, and "perfect" all the
time - even if a person shows them affection they maintain the ability to misbehave. This
presents people with emotional dilemmas and contradictions, as people vitally do with each
other.
Date Issued
2009-05-04Subject
robotics; video; interactive sculpture; body; voice; sound; machine; responsive