Our contribution to Bristol's festival of discovery, FUTURES, marked a new milestone as we unveiled our second installation, The Forest v2: Human Swarming. Evolving from the groundwork laid by our Festival of Nature concept, this innovative exhibit delved into a new realm of 'Human Swarming'. With a team comprising robotics researchers, our exploration of robot swarms, inspired by natural systems such as ants and bees, formed the basis of this new installation.

Set against the historic backdrop of the SS Great Britain, in collaboration with the University of Bristol's outreach team, our installation transformed the back room of conference center into an audio-visual art installation. The Forest  v2 features two striking pillars, each with six interactive light tubes. Participants engaged with the installation using the touch-sensitive sensors on each tube.

Throughout the day, as groups of school-aged students entered the immersive environment, we challenged them to recreate the behaviours of a human swarm. Equipped with prompt cards, participants were encouraged to create patterns on the pillars, using the touch sensors to change the colours of the tubes. The combination of different prompt cards and different communication rules led to a wide range of emergent, artistic outcomes.

The results were two fold - first we were able to inspire the next generation, teach them about emergent creativity, swarm systems and robotics. Second, we created an exciting, interactive and explorative light installation. We look forward to building on this platform for future events.

As we reflect on the resounding success of FUTURES, we look forward to the opportunity to build upon this installation for future events.