Future Factory
Returning to the world of physical events at MWC: we created an immersive walkthrough experience showcasing Ericsson’s vision for life in 2030 powered by Limitless connectivity. Across six rooms, guests follow the product cycle of an electric bike – laying out the possibilities that granular interconnectivity will enable, seamlessly blend the physical and digital worlds revolutionising business, manufacturing and life as we know it.
After working with the wider creative team, developing the concept and narrative throughout the the experience I took the lead on the future factory where we wanted multiple moving physical components to engage the audience in a space that felt like an agile manufacturing floor of the future. This called for the speed and precision of robot arms and warehouse robots – Industrial technology for theatrical effect.
The team behind the project includes:
SHADI EL HAJ, EMMA WILLIAMSON, JON FIDLER, SEBASTIEN JOUHANS, KEVIN PALMER, MIKKEL EGELUND, NIGEL CHILTON, MARTIN HALL, NICK DREW ,JAMES DREW & THE CONTENT TEAM AT ONE SMALL PIXEL
JACK X – PART OF JACK MORTON FOR ERICSSON
A key narrative was around digital twins – allowing everything on the factory floor (and beyond) to be both visualised and controlled by a virtual simulation. By animating and programming our robot arms in MIMIC , we were able to effectively layer a holographic twin of the robots that matched its motion.
The track system for our warehouse robots and the physical assembly mechanisms for our e-Bike was designed, developed and fabricated in house. What stared life as a hacked together prototype in my workshop ended up running reliably over the four days showtime thanks to some serious ingenuity from across the team.
Synchronising a space with so many elements was a project in itself. We developed a central control system from scratch dubbed ‘the brain’ that sent and received a combination of traditional show control commands alongside industrial robotics and our own custom protocol for the track and bike systems. Timing and precision is key for a show like this but also safety to make sure we didn’t smash up our props.
