Sniff the Dog

Sniff is an interactive dog projected onto a storefront that recognizes humans and follows them around. Sniff understands gestures and whether they are friendly or aggressive. Sniff then acts accordingly, becoming playful or defensive. I really like this project since it is a simulation of a dog (I love dogs!). However, I wish the interaction could go a bit further. Maybe obeying commands like “sit” or “stay” if the dog liked you. I also think it would’ve been great if Sniff had special interactions when an actual dog walked by.

Nike+ City Runs

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Nike+ City Runs took map data from Nike+ of where runners ran in three cities (Tokyo, London, New York) and plotted it on a map over time. The more runners that ran on a specific road or trail, the thicker the line becomes, so one can easily the most popular (and also the least popular) places to run in the city. This project caught my attention since I really enjoy looking back at my old location history data and was excited to look at a years worth of anonymous location data. However, I was disappointed that this project is only accessible via installations in a few Nike stores and that they did not have an application that anyone could run.

Double-Taker

Double-Taker is a large, cylindrical robot with an eye on one end. When it sees a person, it becomes curious and starts following your movements with its eye. The point of this system was to cause people walking by to do a double take. “Is that robot… interested in me??”. I just love the whimsical behavior of this robot. The swaying of its body is hypnotizing and I find myself staring back at it. It looks like a character right out of an animated Pixar movie. The only way to make me like this project more is if it occasionally tried to play games with the human. For example, looking at a person when their back is turned, but quickly looking away as soon as they turn around. Also, I am curious how it reacts when multiple people are around. Does it latch onto one of them, or does it somehow switch back and forth?