Window Display Cyborg Dominates Its World

Niklas Roy and Kati Hyyppä’s workshop in Berlin features a large window facing the street. People would normally peek in the shop from time to time, but throughout 2020 – and now 2021 – this window to the world became an even more important non-contact way of interacting with the neighborhood.

While a static display can be interesting, Roy and Hyyppä instead built an interactive cyborg exhibit over the course of several weeks. At the center of this installation, a 2000s-era Robosapien remote-controlled robot was modified to work with an ESP8266 module. This runs the robot through simulated IR inputs, and produces a local webpage that people passing by can log onto with their phones, via instructions in the window. Further modifications of the bot include a wired power supply as well as a new head from a human doll that makes appear more… interesting.

Aside from the robot, they developed a whole world for it/people at the helm to explore. There’s a convenience store where an alien makes an appearance, and – following along with the pandemic theme – the robot can also dance alone in a club after getting the required test. The robot/cyborg can also get a hair treatment at “Salon 3000." When it’s time to get down to nefarious business, a biolab doesn’t offer it admittance, but a simple world domination button starts a plane that flies around spreading a glittery trail – presumably for mind control of some sort.

Of course, this isn’t the first such interesting window display at the shop. You might also check out the public messaging printer that we featuredlast year! If you happen to be in the area in Berlin, you could even stop by and control the robot yourself!