And what about objects which live like us, objects which need to be fed in order to be operational? The idea is interesting when we remember all the studies done in robots. In Europe, robots are been meanly developed in order to execute tasks as car builder machine, mixer machine, or vacuum cleaner; In japan, robots look like being -human beings or pets- in order to bring to people social helps, or presences, like dogs robots.

We have seen with James Auger (Auger–Loizeau) et Anab Jain (Nokia Desing/Superflux) some experiment of object using animals into the process.

First, James Auger show us differents carnivorous robots using dead flies or mices as organic food. So, a clock with fly-papers on a rolling path, a lamp where spiders on it, create web, in order to attract flies. A Mecanic arm is use to take the insects caught, and to bring it on cells. Or even a table where dead trapped mice are used in order to produce electricity.
All these robots appear strange, and could even shock, but the concepts shown by Anab Jain, very close to the Auger-Loizeau's work, allow to understand how interesting is these experiments.
One of her concept is an autonomous-energy radio, fed by flies, food or organic rubbish, which is a very interesting way to both recycle and create energy.

One of Lift Conference’s special treats is the Lift Experience, a series of projects and installations from artist and designers all over the world. Discover each installation on this blog, and check out the Lift experience page for more information!

Meet QB1. A computer that looks, feels and acts like no other computer.
Just one year after that the exhibition of their first prototype at the MoMA in New York, Frederic Kaplan and Martino d’Esposito present at Lift Experience, a robotized computer named QB1. No mouse. No keyboard. You simply interact with it with gestures.

We discovered mouse and keyboards 25 years ago… These tools are wonderful to edit texts, do our budget or conceive new products. The interaction principles they introduced are still the one used in our most of our personal computers. In the meantime, our lifestyle has changed. Now we use computers to play music, watch videos, get some news, and communicate with our friends. And we don’t want to sit at our desk to do all this…

QB1 is the result of collaboration between an engineer, Frederic Kaplan and an indutrial designer, Martino d'Esposito. Kaplan, now researcher at the CRAFT laboratory of EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne), worked ten years for Sony, creating brains for entertainment robots. d'Esposito, teacher at ECAL (The University of Art and Design Lausanne), designs objects and furniture for several companies including Ligne Roset, Cinna, Neweba and Monodor. Together, they co-founded OZWE, a company that creates 'disruptive' devices, like QB1.

At Lift Experience, you'll learn how to browse into QB1's interactive menus and selection tools and discover how QB1 can change the way you can access to your music. You’ll also discover new multi-player games that you can play with your whole body.

Frederic Kaplan, a researcher and robot designer from the Swiss Institute of Technology (Lausanne) talks about the future of robots as part of our daily life. He shows different scenarios that exemplify how everyday objects can become robotic and to what extent the next generation of computer interfaces will be influenced by this trend. In this talk Frederic Kaplan also presents how computers, which used to exist in their own world, now live in our daily life.

More videos on liftconference.com/videos.

Frederic Kaplan, a researcher and robot designer from the Swiss Institute of Technology (Lausanne) talks about the future of robots as part of our daily life. He shows different scenarios that exemplify how everyday objects can become robotic and to what extent the next generation of computer interfaces will be influenced by this trend. In this talk Frederic Kaplan also presents how computers, which used to exist in their own world, now live in our daily life.

Bruno Bonnell is a legendary french entrepreneur, founder of Infogrames and former CEO of Atari . Today Bruno has launched a new venture in the robotic market: Robopolis. In his speech at Lift Asia 08 "From Robota to Homo Robotus" (with remarkable energy and great performance the morning after a legendary Karaoke Night ;) Bruno revises Asimov's laws of robotic and highlights the differences between the Asian and Western approach to robotics.

I did a short version of Tomoaki Kasuga's speech, leaving only the demos of the SPC-101c robot. Check out all the moves this little guy has, quite frankly amazing:

Check full speech here, and as usual liftconference.com/videos for more talks.

Why we invited Rafi to LIFT
Rafi's career is very bright and original (coming form the Minitel entrepreneurship world), we were interested in his perspective about current development in technologies, especially about ubiquitous computing. He has indeed an original stance in the way he proposed to develop his company; somewhat like "we don't know what ubiquitous computing is so let's try something and see how people do out of it", leaving some space in his Nabaztag product to customization or hacking.

What will Rafi speak about
Rafi will talk about his latest start up venture, his approach towards entrepreneurship and what led to the creation of the Nabaztag. This cute little communicating animal is permanently connected to the Internet. It sends and receives a myriad of messages, indicates your mood to the outside world with its ears or lights in its belly, tells jokes, has performed in operas in France and the US (NY) and that is not all it can do. For more information check out Rafi's interview with Benjamin Gauthey on YouTube about Nabaztag or Rafi's LIFT Profile.