Experiential & Engagement Stage Solo Session
Experiential & Engagement Stage sponsored by
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Five years ago, a strange personal project began with an attempt to preserve the memory of a dead cat. This idea evolved into CatGPT: a touring improvised comedy/science show built around L3NT1L, a robot cat contraption powered by a custom AI character that interacts with audiences in real time.
Since then, CatGPT has appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe, toured Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Cheltenham Science Festival. It has attracted much press and is featured in Robin Ince’s book Weirdly Normal & Normally Weird.
Built on more than twenty years of live event experience, CatGPT has become a touring stand-up comedy and science show exploring AI, creativity, neurodiversity and audience interaction. Driven by curiosity and experimentation, the project has evolved into a self-contained system designed for portability, rapid setup and challenging live environments.
Part case study, part live demonstration, this talk explores audience expectations, reliability, ethical AI, creative thinking, human-AI collaboration and the realities of taking emerging technology onto real stages.
The next stage is Lentil Industries: building independent AI systems with long-term memory and offline operation, designed for live events, audience engagement and creative applications.
Expect practical insights, stories, laughs and a rare account of building and touring an AI performer. This is a plain-speaking account of what worked, what failed and what refused to stay in its box.
Speaker
Robin Wealleans is a Welsh entrepreneur, event producer and presenter with more than twenty years of experience delivering live events, visual productions and technology projects. He has worked in over twenty countries and created projects for festivals, theatres, broadcasters, artists and public events.
His background spans animation, projection, live visuals, event technology and public engagement. Career highlights include work for Coldplay and Calvin Harris, and contributing to visual playback systems for Pink Floyd’s Live 8 reunion performance. He was also presented to HM The Queen as a young Welsh entrepreneur.
As a neurodivergent creator, Robin is interested in making technology more accessible and human-centred. He has spent more than a decade delivering talks and outreach sessions in schools and is now founder of Lentil Industries, exploring practical and ethical approaches to AI, live experiences and audience engagement.
@catgptpro