E.C.H.O. is a curious robot that roams around the neighbourhoods and collects the stories shared with him by the people living in the area.
ECHO is standing in a driving platform, currently operated by very committed human, but ultimately he’ll have a free will to roam around independently. His heart and brain consists of ChatGPT powered voice interface and thermal printer. Additionally, next to the ECHO there is a webpage designed to showcase all of the stories collected in the neighbourhood.
E.C.H.O. is a robot in the community that interacts with residents, collects their stories, and records them. With the introduction of ECHO we wanted to ask questions considering the role of the robot (or robots) in the neighbourhoods of the future. How will the social dynamic change when not only humans will be the citizens? Which news and gossips will be shared, and which ones will be kept secret. And finally, will people treat robot as another citizen, or just a tool to use.
The role of E.C.H.O. is fostering communication and understanding within the community by documenting and sharing residents' stories, while also preserving and passing on the history and culture of the neighbourhood.
E.C.H.O. roams around the neighbourhood and attracts people with the latest stories from the neighbourhood that is displayed on its body. When residents approach they can chat with the robot, to learn more about the stories, and add something to the collection.
After interaction, the robot gives the resident a token of appreciation that invites to explore the online archive of the neighbourhood.
How do we keep people motivated to share? Every week a new topic is introduced and people are prompted to share their experience. In this way E.C.H.O. can keep people engaged and looking forward to the latest ‘gossip’.
In the online archive people can explore the stories on their own time and save the ones interesting for them.
A network of E.C.H.O.s can capture cities’ emotional structure, showcasing things that are important for their inhabitants, preserving stories and keeping the neighbourhoods lively.
If this robot was implemented into the real life context, we would love to observe how the dynamics of the social connections will evolve. Will it serve as a conversation starter, some kind of mobile community centre, where all of the people would gather to discuss the latest “gossips”, or would they stop talking with each other completely, because they could find everything online.
With our project we wanted to ask a questions rather than answer them. How will the neighbourhood of the future look like? With the implementation of autonomous robots, how the dynamics of human-human and human-robot interactions will change? Which stories will be shared to the public, and which ones will be kept private? We’re situating our project on a more speculative part of the design spectrum, but nevertheless we also wanted to treat this project as a useful one.