Hastings Contemporary – Robot Tours

As a response to the 2020 restrictions to in-person experiences created by the Covid-19 restrictions, Hastings Contemporary launched virtual tours of its gallery to allow visitors to continue to experience its exhibitions. The bookable tours used a telepresence robot, known as the ‘Art droid’ or ‘the double’. The videoconferencing robot had been developed by the Bristol Robotics Laboratory at the University of the West of England, Bristol, as an accessibility aid and for health and social care settings but the UK’s Lockdown presented a wider application. Visitors were able to log-in as a ‘passanger’ and join a member of the Gallery staff to enjoy a number of the exhibition spaces using the remote controlled robot. Hastings Contemporary appeared to be the first gallery to offer a robot tour. It has proved to be a popular experience and remains in place long after in-person restrictions had been lifted (2022).