We are on the cusp of the robotics revolution: new technologies promise a societal shift where robots will become part of our daily lives. We’ve brought together three very different designers to share and discuss their perspectives on the relationships they envisage we will have with robots in the future.

Prof. Shunji Yamanaka

Founder of Leading Edge Design and Professor at the University of Tokyo, Professor Yamanaka Shunji is one of the most respected design engineers in Japan, with previous works ranging from wristwatches to railway carriages.

Recently, Yamanaka-sensei’s projects include beautiful prosthetics and life-like robots that re-examine the relationship between humans and machines. Numerous honours include: the 2004 Mainichi Design Award, the iF Design Award, and multiple Good Design Awards. His 2010 work, Tagtype Garage Kit, is part of the New York Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection.

Japan House London is currently exhibiting Professor Yamanka's work "Prototyping in Tokyo: Illustration Design-Led Innovation" until 17th March 2019: www.japanhouselondon.uk/whats-on/prototyping-in-tokyo-illustrating-design-led-innovation/

Paul Priestman

Paul Priestman is a designer, co-founder and Chairman of global design consultancy PriestmanGoode, which has been leading innovation in transport design and passenger experience for over 20 years. He is also the Global Creative Director of CRRC Sifang, one of the largest rolling stock manufacturing companies in the world.

Priestman has built an outstanding reputation for his award-winning future concepts - visionary ideas to improve our everyday lives and encourage long-term thinking and behavior change. He is an inspirational speaker on the subject of creative future thinking and an advocate of design as a competitive business tool.

Priestman has won numerous awards for his work, including the Design Innovation Medal from the London Design Festival, and has been voted numerous times as one of Britain’s 500 Most Influential people.

Paul will focus on the role of design in harnessing technology to create a better tomorrow. He will explore the impact of individual use of technology on infrastructure, and the crucial role that designers play in encouraging positive behaviour. He will also talk about developments in robotics and how these are changing the design process - including a move towards rapid manufacturing over rapid prototyping.

Zowie Broach

Zowie Broach is Head of Programme for FASHION at the Royal College of Art. Since arriving 5 years ago, she has radically changed the paradigm of what it means to design in this field.

Zowie previously co-founded avant garde fashion studio BOUDICCA. The first independent British Label to be show during Couture, Paris, it was exhibited at Chicago Arts Institute and Tel Aviv Museum among many others. The studio's Invisible City collection AW04 is part of the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Kensington Palace and FIT.

The first ever fashion show to be live streamed back in 2004, BOUDICCA continued to investigate the digital interface as a tool, an exploration of identity and material , with a fellowship at The Stanley Picker Gallery 2014 that echoed the virtual worlds of computer gaming – ‘The Liquid Game’ an immersive audio-visual installation.

Whilst at the RCA, Zowie has established a new series of platforms – Futures Systems, Sports as Identity, Mixed Realities and Bio as Design – that expands the practise of Fashion. These are not exclusive of values, economy and philosophy of self but take on board the myriad of potentials that need investigating to assure a practise that can reveal and express the question of identity for our future.

Zowie Broach has been voted into the top 500 Fashion Leaders, Business of FASHION for the last 4 years, and she has consulted for Honda, Cartier and Jaguar.

This event is co-hosted by Japan House London www.japanhouselondon.uk/

Robotic Futures: Design Perspectives: Yamanaka-Priestman-Broach