Ideas change everything

Intelligent floating machines inspired by nature

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Anicka Yi |

TED2022

• April 2022

Taking cues from soft robotics and the natural world, conceptual artist Anicka Yi builds lighter-than-air machines that roam and react like autonomous life forms. Her floating "aerobes" inspire us to think about new ways of living with machines -- and to ponder how they could evolve into living creatures. "What if our machines could be more than just our tools, and instead, a new type of companion species?" she asks.

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Taking cues from soft robotics and the natural world, conceptual artist Anicka Yi builds lighter-than-air machines that roam and react like autonomous life forms. Her floating "aerobes" inspire us to think about new ways of living with machines -- and to ponder how they could evolve into living creatures. "What if our machines could be more than just our tools, and instead, a new type of companion species?" she asks.

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This talk was presented at an official TED conference.

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About the speaker

Conceptual artist

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Anicka Yi is interested in the intersection of technology and biology. She uses innovative materials to break down distinctions between plants, animals and machines -- and question what it means to be human.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference.

Read our curation guidelines.