As we speak, Robots being lovingly handcrafted to impress and wow audiences with acts previously considered only capable of being accomplished by humans. If Culture with a captial c was once considered what separated humans from other animals there’s another player that’s hardwired to be a crowdpleaser.
From fashion, theatre and Pop Music…in Japan, at least…Robots are taking centre stage. In the past 18 months one example after another continually proves that yes, the boundaries between technology and culture are blurring. In ever interesting ways.Hey, you can even get married by a Robot Marriage Celebrant, these days:
But back to the point.
There’s the Toyota Partner Robot playing the violin the Japanese pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.
The latest thing to make headlines recently was the premier of a robot in a play which premiered in the Japanese play Sayonara where a humanoid known as Geminoid F plays the part of an android alongside actress Bryerly Long.
This robot was developed by famous Tokyo based robot maker Hiroshi Ishiguro, who is also known for having created a robotic version of himself. The motions of the android actor were controlled from behind the scene during the 20 minute play. Prior to this the robot that created the most buzz was a girlBot called HRP-4C
This is the FemBot launched in Tokyo Fashion Week 2009. She (It?) appeared ont he catwalk during Fashion Week in Tokyo in March 2009. It was designed to look like an average Japanese woman. Very basic, yes. But our very first cellphones, computers and laptops weren’t that flash to start with, either.
Then there’s this. The HRP-4C created with Yamaha’s Vocaloid voice synth software to sing flawlessly. Now we have autotune, this is probably not all that significant. But then, maybe that’s a case FOR rather than AGAINST…
More recently, this video was released. Showing us now that not only does the HRP-4C sing, she also performs. Watch her chirp the lyrics to her song, work the crowd, and shake her stuff in sync with her back up dancers. It’s pretty amazing.
Holographic Animated Pop Star
OK this video is quite possibly a fake. But when you think about it before the Kinect was released, the video leak for that was actually deemed fake. It probably was….but before the general population knew it, the technology it demonstrated was real.
From where I stand, these small examples are really interesting. Because they’re pushing technology centre stage into performing arts - changes a lot. And as our technology continues to evolve in the western world, Japanese invetors are already light years ahead working on the third horizon - transgressing one of the most harder to breach what makes humans, human. Our culture.
How these things - like Robotic Pop Stars and Actors - will translate - or even be embraced - by the western world is unclear. But I think, with the Holographic pop star at least, there’s bound to be quite a bankable impact in years to come. I mean, you can totally see a holographic versions of the GORILLAZ in live performance, in the not to distant future….right?
And several sources say that a Westernised version of this holographic Pop Star technology is on it’s way.
This clever campaign for McDonalds Sweden demonstrates an amazing way of engaging passersby in a quest to win coupons for free fast food at a nearby restaurant. It’s quite a simple concept but an awesome interactive case study and all in all a fantastic example of things to come.
I love this because it manages to pull together so many things so effortlessly, and in a wholly engaging way. It’s so simple, but when you look at what it unites in one simple execution - gameification, geolocation, mobile, online (further opportunities to connect with and follow the brand), coupons (which drive foot traffic into the restaurants) - it’s actually insanely clever. What is especially cool about it is that there’s no need for an app download to interact with the billboard either. And upon successful completion of the game you get a coupon sent to your mobile with instructions on how to redeem it!
This level of interactivity and engagement really invigorates the old boring medium of billboard advertising - and it improves on other forms of interactive outdoor that we’ve seen over the past couple of years. I think we’ll be seeing more and more of this level of integration with outdoor - and other forms of one-way advertising in the near future. It’s not hard to see that this sort of interactive strategy is treading on the edge of now.
Via Simply Zesty and Digtial Buzz Blog
The creators are some clever monkeys working at DDB Stockholm.
If you’re the kinda person who tends to be quite observant about the things that you come accross in the city chances are you’re familiar with the paste-up style of street art. It’s a style that has been quite popular for some time and around the streets of Berlin there’s no exception. However locally based artist SWEZA is taking the form one step further with his cool new project QRadio, which croses audio, street art & mobile technology all at once - and it’s actually pretty sweet.
Instead of pasting up his quirky beatboxes around the place he also makes them interactive. With each box - there are 5 in total and moroe to come - he places a QR code on the front, rewarding those curious or observant enough to check it out with a unique treat in the form of an audio track that you can pick up with your QR Code reader on your Smartphone.
Thanks to Kristien via brandflakesforbreakfast
Also check out this Flickr group for more examples of Paste-ups below:
