Informatics researchers help develop feeding robot

Last Supper is a durational and interactive performance piece in which the artist wears a costume made of recycled machinery, such as, computers/printers as well as cooking utensils (an electric knife, ladle and spoon). Anti-cool made the costume called “The Feeding Robot” using applied robotics technology. This allowed it to become interactive and controlled by the audience. The audience is invited to select different, specific local foods on the table, set it on the spoon or ladle, then the robot forcibly brings the food to her mouth. At this point she has no choice but to eat the food whether she wants to or not. The artist keeps eating as long as the food is served.

This Feeding Robot was originally made in 2009 – 2010 during the participation in robotics workshop guided by Paul Granjon. This time, to get the robot ready for the one-to-one performance, she received huge support by Ali Shafti under the supervision of Dr. Helge Wurdemann and Prof. Kaspar Althoefer from the Centre for Robotics Research in the Department of Informatics at King’s College London.