I worried that my lack of interaction, even though it was my own choice, might negatively affect someones mood. There were times when I felt an obligation to turn them on, even if I was not in a ‘social’ mood. I noticed how my perception of the ‘soot sprites’ and the role they had in my life changed over time. However, the experience wasn’t always positive. This is an example of a ‘moment of magic’ that occurred during this project. I saw the ‘sprite’ tiny lights turn on and off and I felt a type of ‘presence’ in the room. I remember a specific instance when I was in my room in the evening watching a movie, it was dark and the only light source was coming from my screen. I gathered insights into my own social pattern, and the patterns of my teammates by making a note in my journal every time there was some form of interaction. I thought that tinkering too much as I went along would interfere with the experience of living with the bots, so I stopped adjusting after I made the casing. However, I liked the subtle nature of the light. I also considered replacing the LEDs with other outputs for example a speaker.
This approach thought me more about my ‘social patterns’ (which is a phrase that we came up with to describe how the need for social contact and solitude alternate from person to person), than I would have learned by receiving alerts or reminders. I wanted to decide for myself when I wanted to interact with the bot based on my ‘social needs’ at the time. Some of my initial thoughts about what I believe this technology should not do influenced my making, for example I did not want it to be intrusive like a mobile phone. I also changed the button into a ‘switch’, so that it could be pressed on and off. It was handy for knowing when the tech was disconnected from the wifi, and not that no-one was online. Over the next few days I made some changes to the ‘bot’ I added a wifi indicator light having been influenced by jaspers decision to do so. We were now ‘connected’ in a way that was unique for the four of us. This is when the project really started to take on a new life and become meaningful for me. Soon after I switched on my light one Saturday morning in Ireland I saw a second little light shining back and received a text from Wendy, in the Netherlands, just checking in. I could now see when each teammate had their light switched on or off. We each implemented a simple protocol using shiftr.io and soon our LEDS were connected, four LEDs to represent four teammates. This was challenging, especially remotely, but with a lot of patience my teammates and I helped each other through that difficult phase of connecting everything and getting the signals to send over distance (thank you, Wendy!). We did this over video call, holding up our tech to the monitor, sending pictures and really helping each other through this step. With my team, I first set up my Arduino MKR 1010 with 4 LEDS, plenty of proto wires, a button and a breadboard. I like to consider when is the right time for technology to intervene and does the solution always need to be digital what role can craft play? I tried to incorporate my previous skills into the making and bring together these two approaches that are often considered contrasting. As a former textile designer, I have a curiosity for how the textile world can crossover into the digital realm, and what value that can offer to a digital project. Just before lockdown, I moved home to Ireland while the Veronika, Jasper and Wendy remained in the Netherlands. We are a team of four masters students studying Digital Design at the HvA, based in both Ireland and the Netherlands. Through this exploration, I tried to answer this question through making, living with, testing and discussing my own ‘social bot’ with my teammates and others. Can social robotics be a solution? And if so, how? When I began this project, I was having trouble defining the term ‘social robotics’ and what that meant to me. Research into social technology is necessary to insure that we are using it in a safe, sustainable and conscious way. During lockdown, how can we use technology to keep us connected but at the same time not become overwhelmed by it? This issue is becoming increasingly important during a time when our dependency on digital technology has never been higher.
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