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As interactions shift to screens, and AI redraws the relationship between people and machines, the very nature of how humans connect—and what we connect with—is undergoing a transformation. That raises fresh questions for designers. How do you create robots people will respond to positively? How do you create physical spaces that can compete with digital ones?
This was the inspiration behind the latest edition of the Connection Code, WIRED's event series on the changing nature of human connection, produced in partnership with global brand experience agency Sparks. Across its first two instalments, the series explored how technology is reshaping the ways we connect. Its third outing, held at WIRED Health in London, presented a panel of people who are actively building the future of those experiences. Erica Spoor, SVP of Business Strategy at Sparks, explains the thinking: "We wanted to move from theory into practice by bringing together two diverse practitioners actively shaping how people experience connection in the real world."
Niamh Donnelly, CEO of Akara Robotics, develops autonomous robots deployed in NHS and care settings, and has twice been recognised on TIME's Best Inventions list. Her work shines a light on how emotional connections form between people and machines. In one hospital, staff became so attached to a cleaning robot that they gave it a name—Derek—along with a staff ID and an official place in the hospital's records.
Shawn Adams, architect and co-founder of the award-winning POoR Collective, designs public spaces through co-creation with local communities, treating residents as collaborators rather than end users. His practice shows how physical space can cultivate a sense of belonging, even as online life hastens social fragmentation. One example is in Clapham Junction, where POoR transformed a neglected and unsafe underpass into a treasured local landmark inspired by the stories of over a thousand residents.
In conversation, they surfaced three principles that are useful for anyone wanting to make work that connects deeply with its audience, whether it’s a product, a service or even an office policy…
Principle 1: Immersion is essential
For a solution to click, the designer must first experience the problem in reality. At Akara, new engineers first have to spend some time “in the shoes” of the robot they’re building, says Donnelly. “When we were building cleaning robots, I spent a week actually cleaning hospitals to understand what that was like.” It is only by living the problem, she says, that you can understand the real needs and real frictions involved in solving it.
Adams applies a similar approach to the built environment. Growing up, he noticed how physical spaces can affect your headspace—a soaring church ceiling made him feel inspired, for instance, while a youth club with low ceilings made him feel more confined. That fed into his philosophy that a piece of architecture will inevitably fail if it ignores the emotional response of the people that actually use it. His projects begin with getting out there and understanding the location and its populace. “I want to be on the ground, I want to speak to people,” he says. “I need to understand their thoughts, their feelings and desires.”
It may sound like obvious best practice, but a landmark survey showed that as many as 40 percent of organisations weren’t talking to end users during design projects.
Principle 2: People love things they help build
It’s well established that design needs to think user-first. But for many projects, this takes the form of a consultation: a focus group perhaps, or an end-of-project feedback session.
Co-design takes things much further—and it can have a real impact. Psychologists call this the IKEA effect: people place disproportionately higher value on things they helped create.
Both Donnelly and Adams put this principle at the heart of their work. When POoR Collective (in partnership with GPAD, MRG Studio, Sutton Vane Associates and Smiling Wolf) redesigned the Falcon Road Bridge underpass in Battersea—a previously damp, pigeon-filled space locals actively avoided—Adams began with nine months of workshops asking residents to draw their ideas, and hearing their concerns around lighting, noise, and safety. The resulting artwork panels, which line the walls of the underpass, are built directly from those drawings: a mosaic of local landmarks, lavender fields and iron arches, each traceable to a specific conversation with a specific person. “What was really powerful was people feeling seen,” says Adams. “Each element represented their community.”
Donnelly says co-creation is no less vital in robotics. When robots aren’t adopted, it’s often not because the code isn’t good enough, but that it’s a big ask for the users to integrate this new entity into their lives unless they feel like they have a stake in the robot’s success. Akara’s cleaning robots are therefore designed in close collaboration with the clinicians and cleaners who will ultimately use them. “When I look at our robots now I can pick out features that specific people have actually come up with,” says Donnelly. “Making sure they'll have a connection with the robot is really important.” That sense of connection can run deep. One NHS trust gave their robot an identity card, a name (Derek), and a staff number.
Principle 3: The power of the glitch
There is a prevailing instinct with design to project confidence: wait until it’s ready then launch it as a polished fait accompli.
That’s not always the best approach. A product that presents itself as completely finished can invite pushback as it suggests the user’s role is simply to receive it. One that openly invites feedback, on the other hand, can cultivate connection.
Donnelly experienced this with Stevie, Akara’s first social robot, deployed in a Washington DC retirement community to run karaoke nights and provide companionship for older adults. One evening, Stevie’s neck mechanism broke mid-performance. Its head lolled sideways as it kept singing. The residents found it hilarious—and endearing. Stevie occasionally forgot names, too. “People laughed,” Donnelly says. “It really built the connection, because people get things wrong. So it’s OK for robots to get things wrong too.”
This is not an argument for shoddy execution, as a surgical robot that malfunctions is clearly dangerous, not endearing. The point is more that launching in beta and being candid about what you don’t yet know can reduce some key barriers to adoption, including surfacing the feedback that will let you address problems you hadn’t spotted.
All of which underscores the central point: in contexts where human connection can’t be taken for granted, it has to be deliberately designed-and the designers getting it right are the ones who understand it can't be imposed from the outside in.
The Connection Code is a series of conversations co-created by WIRED and Sparks, exploring how brands can move beyond surface-level engagement to design connection that lasts—across digital products, physical experiences and everything in between.
