- Title: A tail to remember - new app moves animatronic human tails
- Date: 6th March 2019
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) THE TAIL COMPANY FOUNDER, ANDREW SHOBEN, SAYING: "We also have a mode called the pose mode. One of the most common requests we've had is: "I want that photograph, I'm at the convention. All my friends are here, we're all dressed up and we all want our tails to jump up at the same time whilst we're having that picture taken." So pose mode is that." TAIL MOVING (SOUNDBITE) (English) THE TAIL COMPANY FOUNDER, ANDREW SHOBEN, SAYING: "People that wear these tails are a very diverse group. We've got the people who want to dress up and go to a party. There are people who are interested in Cosplay and Cosplay is a huge, huge scene now from people who want to be Nightcrawler from the X-Men through to their favourite Anime characters. And then we have the furs, the furries. These are the guys who really take that lifestyle very, very seriously and they have a very detailed idea of exactly kind of tail they want." VARIOUS OF FABRIC ON SHELVES (SOUNDBITE) (English) THE TAIL COMPANY FOUNDER, ANDREW SHOBEN, SAYING: "If my cat Clive wanders into this interview now and his tail is up, something's up. You know he's excited, he's in an agitated state. That's non-verbal, it's exciting, it's immediate and it's very, very legible. So that's another really interesting aspect I think from The Tail Company's research and production of tails." CAT OF SHOBEN FAMILY CALLED CLIVE THE TAIL COMPANY CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CHAR SHOBEN, AT DESK ASSEMBLING A TAIL VARIOUS OF CHAR SHOBEN ASSEMBLING TAIL (SOUNDBITE) (English) THE TAIL COMPANY FOUNDER, ANDREW SHOBEN, SAYING: "Inside there is a PCB (printed circuit board) which controls the Bluetooth communication. It picks the moves, it allows the move designers and then it tells the tail to move. Beautiful, beautiful man. I do love my life." ANDREW SHOBEN CLIPPING TAIL ONTO MANNEQUIN TAIL ON MANNEQUIN (SOUNDBITE) (English) THE TAIL COMPANY FOUNDER, ANDREW SHOBEN, SAYING: "I mean clearly it's a product, you can buy it. But it's born out of art. I think all sculpture is, this is a mobile sculpture and something which can be felt in aesthetic terms as well as technical or social terms." VARIOUS OF ANDREW SHOBEN AND CHAR SHOBEN WALKING THROUGH TESCO SHOP CAT FOOD ON SHELF TESCO STAFF LAUGHING AT ANDREW SHOBEN WEARING A TAIL DOG OUTSIDE TESCO ANDREW SHOBEN AND CHAR SHOBEN WALKING INTO BAKERY ANDREW SHOBEN AND CHAR SHOBEN WEARING TAILS INSIDE BAKERY (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE BAKERY STAFF MEMBER SAYING: "I think they're really good." UNIDENTIFIED MALE BAKERY STAFF MEMBER: "They're brilliant." UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE BAKERY STAFF MEMBER: "Very clever, yeah." UNIDENTIFIED MALE BAKERY STAFF MEMBER: "Look at that, they move by themselves." BAKERY STAFF STANDING IN DOORWAY ANDREW SHOBEN AND CHAR SHOBEN SITTING AT COFFEE TABLE CHAR SHOBEN'S TAIL WAGGING ANDREW SHOBEN'S TAIL WAGGING ANDREW SHOBEN DRINKING COFFEE COFFEE CUPS ON TABLE ANDREW SHOBEN AND CHAR SHOBEN SITTING AT COFFEE TABLE
- Embargoed: 20th March 2019 15:27
- Keywords: fancy dress costumes technology fox application role play Furries Tails app Cosplay wolf DIGITAiL Andrew Shoben
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM/ UNIDENTIFIED LOCATIONS
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM/ UNIDENTIFIED LOCATIONS
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Human Interest / Brights / Odd News,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA003A4VWPJT
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:A new app has been launched which allows the wearers of animatronic tails to summon movements with just the flick and swish of their finger.
The app, which went live on the Google Play Store in February and is called The DIGITAiL App, was launched by London's The Tail Company.
Its founder Andrew Shoben, who is also Professor of Public Art at Goldsmiths, University of London, has been producing tails since 2006 and the company was formed in 2012. The tails are built by his wife Char Shoben.
Since then she has hand-made thousands of tails based on fox, rabbit and wolf tails, along with tails inspired by movie characters' tails such as Nightcrawler in the comic book and film series X-Men.
Andrew Shoben breaks down his clients into three groups: party-goers, Cosplay lovers and "furries".
Cosplay fans dress as characters in comics and superhero movies.
The furry subculture consists of people drawn to anthropomorphic creatures, interacting as their animal identities online and attending conventions dressed in so-called "fursuits."
"These are the guys who really take that lifestyle very, very seriously and they have a very detailed idea of exactly kind of tail they want," Andrew Shoben told Reuters.
The new app features a pose mode for photographs and the ability to build a sequence of moves. It also has fast and slow "wags".
"A slower wag. So this is the kind of thing that you might choose to meander through a park or perhaps meet somebody at the bank," Andrew Shoben said.
"We might not want to stress them with a high, trembly move so you'd use this," he added.
The app was created by UK based tail-enthusiast Dan Leinir. In development is the ability to feature phone notifications including incoming texts, emails and the detection of a strong Wi-Fi signal.
The company began a Kickstarter campaign in September 2018 to raise funds for their app-powered DIGITAiLs. It has raised more than double its £7,000 ($9,275) target.
Each DIGITAiL contains a printed circuit board with a Bluetooth range of approximately 10m (33 feet). The rechargeable batteries run for approximately four and a half hours, Andrew Shoben said. Tails range from 24 inches (60cm) to 40 inches (1m 2cm) in length.
But how is an animatronic tail for humans to be categorised?
"I mean clearly it's a product, you can buy it. But it's born out of art," Andrew Shoben said.
"This is a mobile sculpture and something which can be felt in aesthetic terms as well as technical or social terms," he added.
(Production: Stuart McDill, George Sargent) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None