A tail to remember - new app moves animatronic human tails

Record ID: 1398373

  • Title: A tail to remember - new app moves animatronic human tails
  • Date: 6th March 2019
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FEBRUARY 28, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF THE TAIL COMPANY FOUNDER, ANDREW SHOBEN, AND THE TAIL COMPANY CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CHAR SHOBEN, WALKING ALONG STREET WEARING TAILS (SOUNDBITE) (English) THE TAIL COMPANY FOUNDER, ANDREW SHOBEN, SAYING: "For us there's a clear evolution. Our original tails were radio-controlled, great, little remote-controlled, dinky, excellent. But you know, what if you want to have a chain of moves? What if you want to integrate that movement into other things that you do? You can't do it with a remote but with an app suddenly the possibilities are enormous and that got us very excited." (SOUNDBITE) (English) THE TAIL COMPANY FOUNDER, ANDREW SHOBEN, SAYING: "One function that the app can do is really to replace the remote but it replaces it in a far more complex way. So for example this is a fast wag." TAIL WAGGING (SOUNDBITE) (English) THE TAIL COMPANY FOUNDER, ANDREW SHOBEN, SAYING: "Well this is 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. We might not want to stress them with a high, trembly move so you'd use this. And these are the kind of things that I tend to use when I'm using the casual mode which is one of the most interesting things that we've currently got in the app."
  • 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: LVA001A4VWPJT
  • 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)
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