Makers of Imaginary Worlds

We have been supporting our partners, Makers of Imaginary Worlds by developing The Ring Master – the newest robot to join the Thingamabobas troup. The Ring Master is an expressive robotic performer that builds on earlier research into social and performative robotics.  We will be exploring  how motion, gesture, and responsiveness can enhance visitor engagement and storytelling within the installation. By collaborating with experts in bodily motion, such as puppeteers and theatre practitioners, we aim to understand how embodied expertise can inform the design of more expressive and emotionally engaging robotic interactions. Using findings from recent studies on expressive robot behaviour and child–robot interaction, we are integrating new motion control and sensing systems to enable more dynamic and lifelike performance.

Outputs and Highlights

Meet and Interact sessions with The Ring Master, Ashfield Creatives, Sutton in Ashfield, Nottingham, 30 October – 1 November 2025.

Total audience numbers: 178

Quotes for participants:

• ‘We enjoyed the robot and liked learning about it’
• ‘Loved Thingamabobas! Magical.
• ‘It was great for the little ones. Never done anything else like it.’

Pavlos Panagiotidis, Victor Zhi Heung Ngo, Sean Myatt, Roma Patel, Rachel Ramchurn, Alan Chamberlain, Ayse Kucukyilmaz. Theatre in the Loop: A Rehearsal-Based, Collaborative Workflow for Expressive Robotic Behaviour. 17th International Conference on Social Robotics+AI (ICSR+AI), Napoli, Italy, 10-12 September 2025