The Center for Counter-Productive Robotics

The Center for Counter-Productive Robotics

In this day and age, robots are presented as the embodiment of precision, speed and efficiency. And they are: working relentlessly, day and night on factory floors around the world, churning out goods faster than ever. As a consequence their practical use is mostly limited to capitalistic logics expecting return on investment, or academic logics expecting research publications. The Center for Counter-Productive Robotics is an island where these concerns are thrown out of the window, and robots are deliberately approached with failure, laziness and clumsiness in mind. In this way the center develops a more human-centric approach to robotics.

Workshop (2018) by Antoine Barras, Maya Bellier, Pablo Bellon, Ivan Chestopaloff, Bastien Claessens, Guillaume Giraud, Léonard Guyot, Evan Kelly, Lisa Kishtoo, Kylan Luginbühl, Paul Lëon, Aurélien Pellegrini, Yael Sidler

Know-how
Tangible Interaction, soft goods / accessories, Robotics, Electronics
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Projects related to soft goods / accessories

Thomas Gaudin – UnBubble

BA MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Thomas Gaudin – UnBubble

with Pauline Saglio, Christophe Guignard, Alain Bellet, Gaël Hugo, Lara Défayes, Laura Nieder

Unbubble is an interactive installation in which a robot explores a user’s smartphone to analyze their Instagram usage. This intrusive act highlights a paradox: if it’s rare to hand one’s phone to a machine, we nonetheless do so every day by letting algorithms collect our data. Our online habits shape a tailor-made reality that filters, sorts, suggests, and sometimes limits our horizons. Unbubble questions how our digital traces construct a fragmented image of ourselves — one that is then used to guide our choices, desires, and attention. The installation invites us to become aware of these mechanisms and opens up a space to imagine other narratives, other ways of navigating, and other worlds to explore beyond the paths laid out by algorithms.

Laurine Gigandet – CLAWS

BA MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Laurine Gigandet – CLAWS

by Laurine Gigandet

CLAWS is a collection of interactive accessories designed for a connected community. Worn on the fingertips, these devices enable users to assert their presence and engage with their surroundings on their own terms. Blurring the line between prosthetics and augmented nail art, the project explores how bodily ornamentation can transform the body into an interface with the physical, digital, and social worlds. Each CLAW is customizable : textures, colors, and patterns become symbols of identity and belonging. Inspired by Afrofuturist visions, the project centers on the concept of "digital marronage" through fugitive, self-organizing technologies. CLAWS acts as a political and cultural extension that resists the standardization of mainstream contemporary technology.

Jamy Herrmann – MEMOGRAM

BA MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Jamy Herrmann – MEMOGRAM

with Alain Bellet, Christophe Guignard, Gaël Hugo, Laura Nieder, Pauline Saglio

Today, for many, the memories that remain are only those of images taken with digital cameras. Through this continuous storage process, we offload those moments by trusting instantaneous backups. MEMOGRAM challenges this delegation by offering a time capsule in the form of tickets, accompanying our memories with textual clues and descriptions. www.memogram.ch

Steve Bouillant – Re:soil

BA MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Steve Bouillant – Re:soil

by Steve Bouillant

The smartphone has turned a trip to the mountains into an exercise in documentation. We take photos, tag our location, and post them: the natural world becomes content before it becomes a moment of reconnection. Re:soil offers a compact outdoor device whose sensors continuously measure humidity, light, and the transitions between environments. Its probe, planted in the ground, measures the earth's heat and compares it to that of the user's hand. Its microphone captures the soundscape of the location. Re:soil conveys these connections through vibration and light, without a screen, without performance, and without a phone. Upon the user's return, a linked app generates an ephemeral journal blending sensory interpretations, the geology of the site, and likely flora and fauna.

Maxime Castelli – Nelson

BA MEDIA & INTERACTION DESIGN

Maxime Castelli – Nelson

with Alain Bellet, Cyril Diagne, Christophe Guignard, Gaël Hugo

Nelson is a tiny connected module designed to to bring everyday objects to life remotely. It’s based on a very simple forwards and backwards movement as we do in our everyday life, like pushing a switch. Connected to the internet it triggers setups previously defined by the user. Designed and built with the help of designer Arthur Didier, this project is the completion of my studies, working in most of the fields of interaction design and industrial design to mix both towards an innovative creation.

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