The concept of creative play is at the core of many research and design efforts– particularly those in industry where eccentric and playful elements are often incorporated into the design of offices, kitchens, and conference rooms in an effort to foster creative thinking in the workplace. Our work imports elements of these playspaces into our everyday public environments by activating vertical surfaces such as bus stops, hallways, elevators, stairways, etc. Rather than explicitly addressing a specific problem, our research aims to support the natural human capacity for curiosity and wonder, which lies at the core of innovation and the ideation of problem solving.

Each WallBot is interactive, reacting to factors such as ambient noise, gestures, or physical knocks on the wall, which it inhabits. One instantiation of WallBot receives input from four photoresistors (light sensors), placed on the front-right, direct-front, front-left, and top of the robot. Continuous sampling from four photoresistors enables each robot to detect light gradients in its environment. WallBot movement is altered by waving them on walls”, and another person claimed that WallBots are “the most awesome thing I will see today”.

Wallbot