Spike is a shape-changing social robot designed to spark conversations about consumerism and sustainability. Housed inside a shipping container, this interactive art installation uses movement and dialogue to encourage reflection on personal environmental choices.
Spike is an interactive art installation that explores how social robotics and spatial design can facilitate deep reflection on the environmental impact of modern consumerism. Installed inside a shipping container, Spike takes the form of an organic, ceiling-mounted robot that responds to users through physical shape-change and a Socratic dialogue. Its goal is to spark personal and collective awareness around consumption habits and sustainability.
As users step inside the container, they are enveloped in an aesthetic, dynamic environment shaped by moving fabric spikes that shift in response to user behavior and group formations. These movements, driven by custom mechanisms using the Scott Russell linear actuation principle, create an evolving conversational space that subtly influences how people engage with the installation and each other.
Spike is not only a technological object but also a scenographic and symbolic one. Through its container setting, it visually references overconsumption and uses space, light, and movement to embody sustainability. The project emphasizes accessibility, public engagement, and critical design to make sustainability a subject of everyday dialogue.