Have We Met?

What does it feel like to meet a robot that seems curious about you?

“Have We Met?” is a short film that centers around Isaac, a continuum robot that is suspended in space. With no capacity for verbal communication, Isaac's world is shaped by its flexible body and sparkling lights, designed for fluid and organic motion.

When spending time with Isaac you can experience a sense of strange intimacy that is lost in contemporary Human/Machine interfaces. Wriggling movements are the means whereby Isaac expresses emotional states of pleasure and pain to its new acquaintances. Isaac will try to entice anyone who enters its body space to touch, because touching allows Isaac to perceive the detailed reactions of participants as they poke, stroke and tickle the robot surface.

“Have We Met” encourages exploration not just of novel human-robot interactions, but specifically situations where movement and touch are used to create a shared language.

“Have We Met?” is a collaboration of Qi Qi and Adam Ray Braun.