Natalie Jeremijenko’s Robot Ducks

Natalie Jeremijenko contacted us one week before the opening of the Save the Robots festival in Dublin.  She had been commissioned by The Ark to create a series of Robot Ducks that festival goers could use to communicate with the real ducks in the pond at St. Stephen’s Green in central Dublin.

Working under duress, we express-ordered plastic decoy ducks used for hunting, and then set about re-purposing them to become vehicles for greater duck-human communication.  Using small audio/video transceivers, we embedded a camera, microphone, and speaker inside of each duck that could be viewed and controlled wirelessly from laptops in the park.  Users could also use a handheld remote-control motor system embedded inside each duck to maneuver it around the pond.  This turned out to be a big success in Dublin.

Robot Ducks featured in Res Magazine

Duck picnic before departure for Dublin

Permit this family to drive ducks

Robot duck playing hard to get in Dublin