The Smile-Bot

Here is a little something to brighten up your Monday. Seriously, try not smiling when you see this fun experience bot. It's name is the Smile-Bot and it is based off of the theory that smiles are contagious.Smile-Bot is all about the experience. It was specifically designed to be approachable with a wood body and friendly smiling faces on top, so people want to look inside. It depends on the natural curiosity of passerby's. When someone puts their face into the Smile-Bot, they are able to see the geometric world of the Smile-People (which is very reminiscent of an 80's David Bowie video, prisms and rainbows included). When the viewer smiles, they trigger a response from the Smile-Bot of sound effects and happier color changing. Multiple smiles from different people create a larger response with more sound effects and even a rainbow. Each smile is recorded on a Smile-Counter. The project description on Vimeo says "The Smile-People live in a very rigid, geometric world so the contours of a smile are very unique and cherished and are therefore collected through images and a Smile-Counter."The Smile-Bot was created by creative studio We Are Matik, who specialize in multi sensory design, interactive experience and experiential campaigns. We are Matik says on their Vimeo page that the Smile-Bot was created to bring happiness: "Much like how the Monolith in Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" affected an entire species by introducing a new level of consciousness, We Are Matik's "Smile-Bot" was created with a similar objective in mind: to instill a sense of happiness in those around it." The idea of design being an experience is very refreshing, and the idea of the experience being solely to bring happiness to this world is even better.