Come Hither to Me Performance of a Seductive Robot

Come Hither to Me is an interactive robotic performance, which examines the emotive social interaction between an audience and a robot. Our interactive robot attempts to communicate and flirt with audience members in the gallery. The robot uses feedback from sensors, auditory data, and computer vision techniques to learn about the participants and inform its conversation. The female robot approaches the audience, picks her favorites, and starts charming them with seductive comments, funny remarks, backhanded compliments, and personal questions. We are interested in evoking emotions in the participating audience through their interactions with the robot. Come Hither to Me strives to invert gender roles and stereotypical expectations in flirtatious interactions. This performative piece explores the dynamics of social communication, objectification of women, and the gamification of seduction. The robot reduces flirtation to an algorithm, codifying pick-up lines and sexting paradigms.