Social Robots, Human Connection, and the Art of Clowning w/ Pasquale D'Silva

About this episode

The episode explores the intersection of clowning, technology, and robotics with guest Pasquale D'Silva, focusing on creating engaging and trustworthy robots.

Apple Podcast Link Spotify Podcast Link This was the most unique and fun episode I’ve done in a while, and it starts in a very unexpected place… With the art of clowning. Strange I know, but stick with us, because we quickly connect that world to technology, robotics, and why it holds surprisingly powerful lessons for this moment in time; especially if we want to design intelligent, embodied systems that humans actually want to engage with. Our guest today is Pasquale D’Silva, CEO of The Illusion of Life , a company building characters and personalities into robots to make them interesting, fun, warm, and worthy of trust. This all starts with their partnership with Boston Dynamics, where they’ve taken the Spot robot dog and turned it into a character with a real personality, called Spark. In this chat, we talk about the relationship between humans and machines, and explore all kinds of crevasses, including trust, presence, emotional intelligence, and why artists—not just engineers—may be the key to building joyful, human-centered robots. If you’re curious about the future of human–machine interaction, you’re gonna love this one. It will stretch your imagination in all the best…

People in this episode

Host: Evan Helda

Guest: Pasquale D'Silva

Topics covered

• social robots
• human connection
• clowning
• technology
• robotics
• emotional intelligence
• human-centered design

Keywords

• clowning
• robots
• human-machine interaction
• emotional intelligence
• trust
• Boston Dynamics
• The Illusion of Life

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Illusion of Life, Boston Dynamics

Products: Spot, Spark

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