Funeral for robot
Storytelling For Human Robot Relationship
About
Funeral for Robot is a one-time performance that lasts for 2 hours designed with the method of speculative storytelling and projection mapping. It is created for showing the intimate relationship between humans and companion robots in the near future.
Theme
The theme is about the close relationship between my robot “Kiwi” and I. I am a girl born in 2033 who loves painting. Kiwi is a companion robot and my best friend who has got along with me for 20 years. Because of the irreparable faults in the mainboard, Kiwi will die on May 4th, 2058, at 3:30 pm, and it has agreed to donate all its organs. I decide to hold a funeral for Kiwi and stay with it in the last moment of its life. The funeral is in the space where we have shared most of our memory together: the painting room. In the room, there are many sketchbooks I drew for Kiwi, which are able to tell the story between us.
Death
Birth and death are the most significant moments in life. Death can be the end of the story. It is also the best moment to recall memories and trigger empathy.
Equal Relationship
We can also treat robots as servants, pets, employees, butlers, family members, and friends. I have tried to compare among these relationships and finally decided the relationship between robot and human in my speculative scenario is friends. Friendship is a relatively equal relationship in this context.
UNDERTAKING
Robot Design
The robot is designed in a simple humanlike shape that seems attractive for kids since it was a gift for a five-year-old kid. The robot has a frame on its face. Its face is displayed on a mobile phone. I have tested with different materials and decided to use cardboard in the end.
Setting Planning
The environment for this scenario is a painting room. I am an illustrator who loves painting since young, and the painting room can be a special space for this story. It can be the place where my robot and I have shared most of our memories.
I to robot
Sketchbooks
My role is a girl who loves painting. So I create a series of illustrations about Kiwi. The illustrations are designed to be painted from different age stages, from 5 years old to 25, which can show the story about how Kiwi and I get along with each other and why it is dying. A large number of robot illustrations in the sketchbooks can also indicate that Kiwi is essential for me. To create the illustration in a child’s style, I draw them in crayons with the left hand.
Poem
Robot to I
Kiwi is a robot designed with Artificial Intelligence. It has the capability of learning from the environment. It is also the point that why robots will be different from each other after getting along with different humans. It makes Kiwi special.
I have taught Kiwi how to paint many times, but it could not even hold the pen. After 20 years, however, Kiwi finally learned a little about painting but had never shown it to me. At the moment it was dying, Kiwi painted for the first time on his face. It was a little girl’s face drawn clumsily. It was me when I was five years old. Kiwi still remembered what I looked like when it first saw me.
Professor: Ayo Okunseinde
2019. 5