Design craft with one foot in the lab.
We design and build interactive work grounded in science, often about the body and how we measure it. We run both the data side and the participant side of a study. The work spans permanent museum exhibitions, festival commissions, and science-advisory roles on speculative-future projects led by other studios.
An experience is what happens inside someone as they engage with something outside them. We design for that interior shift. Three working criteria carry across the studio's portfolio:
- Interactive. The visitor is doing something with their hands and their body, not watching.
- Immersive. The environment is built out of the actual material of the science, with hooks into the underlying knowledge.
- Applicability. A default goal is on the table for newcomers, and personal expression is encouraged.
The studio's project history runs from Body Metrics at The Tech Interactive and BioDesign Studio in the same institution, through a science-advisory role on HEAL Institute at Dubai's Museum of the Future, and into independent festival pieces at Gray Area and MICROWAVE. Recognitions include AAM MUSE Awards (Gold and Silver), a D&AD Wood Pencil, a Core77 Runner-Up, the ASTC Roy L. Shafer Leading Edge Award, and contributions to a Blooloop-award-winning complex.
Principal
Romie Kind founded The Life Robotic in 2017, after directing interactive health and biotech exhibitions at The Tech Interactive from 2013 to 2017. Earlier work was in microfluidic and stem-cell bioengineering research at MIT and UCLA. Older institutional credits appear under Romie Littrell. Recent work uses Romie Kind.
Capabilities
- Wet-bench biology (cell culture, microbial work, synthetic biology protocols, IRB-aware human-subjects design)
- Wearables and biosensor prototyping
- Permanent and traveling museum exhibit development, concept through commissioning
- Scientific content advisory for narrative-architecture and speculative-future projects
- Curriculum and residency program design (NSF AISL track record)
Clients and partners
The studio has worked with, advised, or shipped projects with:
