COURSES / PERSONABLE MACHINES
REV 01
2026
Personable Machines.
What if a lamp were alive? In this hands-on workshop, participants will breathe personality into an ordinary lamp using nothing more than its light bulb. Working in small groups, you'll decide how your lamp behaves — is it shy? needy? distracted? — then prototype its personality using a constrained toolkit of interactions.
InstructorMadeline Gannon
SponsorSteve Jobs Archive
LocationEames Institute
Duration1 HR
ParticipantsLive Cohort
FIG 0.1 Three Lights
3 BEHAVIORS
HAL 9000
0.60
BRIGHTNESS
KITT
0.50
POSITION
E.T.
0.30
BRIGHTNESS
Game Plan
60 MIN
5 min
15 min
15 min
20 min
20 min
5 min
Topics covered.
Animacy
Personality design
Behavior prototyping
Constraints
Lamp as medium
Group collaboration
Live coding
Eames philosophy