Are fashion and design becoming a new realm of influence for robots?
Seduced by the robotic cuteness, we turn a blind eye to surveillance.
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About a year ago, a close friend of mine, Liliana, shared with me a story that left a strong impression on me. Liliana works in the automotive industry and had the opportunity to attend a presentation by Boston Dynamics at a Hyundai showroom. She was excited because she has been following their work for a long time now. There, she finally got to meet and interact with Spot, the robot dog. The pictures she sent me captured her posing with Spot, her smile radiating the same warmth and delight one would expect in a photo with an actual canine. Her message was filled with enthusiasm: 'They are so cute, I would definitely get one if I could,' she wrote.
Affective interaction
Liliana’s meeting with Spot was filled with fascination and uneasiness at the same time – she interacted with the robot’s movements, which mimicked a dog’s behavior as if they were real. The movements and behaviors were reminiscent of a real dog wagging its tail and looking at her, even though the robot had no eyes. She felt observed, almost as if someone was watching her through Spot. Most strikingly, she admitted how her brain instinctively saw it as a living entity, blurring the lines between machine and creature.
Her experience made me wonder about my own potential reactions. What would I do and how would I feel? To me, as an observer, it appeared she was captivated by what I saw as a 'cute surveillance machine.' Yet, I couldn't dismiss the emotional aspect so easily. My thoughts drifted back to a couple of years ago when I was researching Paro, the therapeutic robot seal used in palliative care. Paro, though resembling a toy with its plastic eyelashes and fluffy white coat, elicited a surprising emotional response from me as well. It blinks, moves its head, and offers a sense of softness and companionship, much like a living pet. Experts have noted its significant role in enhancing patient wellbeing, a fact underscoring its design purpose – to evoke specific feelings through anthropomorphism. But Paro isn't just a toy; it's an evidence-based neurological therapeutic robot and FDA-cleared Class II Medical Device, a testament to its therapeutic value. And were not quadrupeds, the robot dogs, made for the military? But it wasn't until many months later that I started searching for my answers.
Robots en vogue
Several months later, in March 2023, another friend shared with me images of Spot, but this time, fashion was the main context. Valentina and I used to work together in a fashion startup and I wasn’t surprised when she shared with me a video from Coperni’s FW23 show. “Amazing,” she wrote. Coperni, a fashion brand named after Copernicus, known for its slick, swiping-inspired bags and spectacular fashion shows, cast 5 Spots during their FW 23 show during the Paris Fashion Week.
In the show video, I could see multiple spots walking on a catwalk, carrying the bags, and undressing the models. Were they becoming models themselves or were they just a part of the set design? It seemed as though Coperni was exploring questions about the role of technology in fashion. I wondered if Coperni is using this only as a marketing strategy or maybe they are also trying to embed more tech within their garments. A quick examination revealed no underlying strategy: digital passports, digital assets, and metaverse were embraced by many other brands showing at the Paris Fashion Week, but not by Coperni.
Coperni appears to be using technology as a backdrop and as a part of an aesthetic vision, rather than in the development process of their garments. The Robot Dog performance is following the footsteps of the spray-on dress, which went viral in October 2022, to the horror of many sustainability experts. The technique of the spray-on fabric was invented in 2003 by Dr. Mannel Torres. While it went viral for the Coperni x Bella Hadid performance, it started to raise many questions about what it communicates.
Is disposable, plastic fashion really the innovation we want and need? There will be no surprise that Coperni does not mention sustainability on their website and that good on you, a website rating brands' sustainability efforts, ranked them low as “not good enough”.
Whilst Coperni’s robot performance seemed more like a gimmick, other brands included robot dogs in their branding more effectively. Heliot Emil, a Paris-based brand with roots in Copenhagen, known for its technical and utilitarian garments, invited a robot dog to their show during the same Paris Fashion Week as Coperni. Instead of using the robot dog to perform, he walked along with the guests and interacted with them. Additionally, the robot was coloured silver, which seamlessly fits into the brand’s language.
Moving beyond fashion, the New Zealand-born, Paris-based design duo Batten and Kamp created a chair, which is a combination of functional sculpture, seating, and robotic exploration. The Comfort Seeker Seeker chair draws inspiration from the iconic forms of the Eames LCW chair and the Boston Dynamics’ Spot. Here Spot enters the realm of domestic design. What makes me wonder: Are fashion and design becoming a new realm of influence for robots?
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