Octopus Immersive Laboratory was founded in 2015 by directory Benjamin Winstone, initially named ’The Gentleman Octopus’. The company formed naturally as Ben began making robot art as a creative pursuit along side his robotics research. Much of Ben’s research had been in or around bio-inspired and bio-mimetic design and octopus have always been a fascinating example of mechanics, intelligence and adaption. They have been a big inspiration behind the business, and will continue to be so.

In the early days, Ben was based at Bristol Robotics Laboratory, which provided access to a wealth or fabrication tools and creative minds, many of which have be involved in a project or two over the years. We developed art installations for festivals and galleries which incorporated a mix of animatronics, electronics, lighting and machine vision whilst fabricating with laser cutters, 3D printers, traditional workshop tools and welding.

Through the years we have contributed to a number of UK festivals including Boomtown, Shambala, Secret Garden Party, Wonderfields, Beautiful Days and True Fest. We have also worked with the National Trust Tynstfield Estate and Wallace & Gromits sculpture trail through University of Bristol. 

Ben stood infront of a Rob D Naja (Massive Attack) art piece which he contributed to. Robot sprayed graffiti text over existing work, by Rob D Naja (Massive Attack), technical development by Octopus Immersive. Saatchi Gallery - Beyond The Streets Exhibition 2023

In recent years, we have looked beyond festivals and galleries and developed services to design and install creative technologies for clients, this ranges from interactive robotics to immersive technologies such as AR & VR. We have contributed to the first phase of the world first Amazement Park - Wake The Tiger, designing a colourful and fully interactive room, along with a number of technology based interaction points around the park. We have also worked with Rob D Naja (Massive Attack) developing a robotic system that can paint and spray can graffiti like a human.

Wake The Tiger - Guild Room 2022

In 2020 we worked with singer Sian Cross to create this music video. This featured our ‘Oracle’ sound reactive giant head, which you may have seen at a number of UK festivals. The Oracle married well with the lyrics of Sian’s song ‘Tell Anybody’ and illuminates it response to the music throughout the video. We are working with Sian again in 2024 with our Introspect project.

In 2023 we worked on the worlds first 100 person mixed reality music performance produced by Tin Drum and featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto. Everyone in the audience wears a Magic Leap 2 headset whilst being immersed in 3D visuals which evolve along with the select songs from Ryuichi's extensive career. This show has presented in New York, Manchester, London, Taiwan and Italy so far. More info can be found here.

KAGAMI - Left : Machester International Festival 2023, Right : Camden Roundhouse 2024

In 2024 we decided to change our name to ‘Octopus Immersive Laboratory’ and we feel it more clearly represents what we do now. We make both physical and digital experiences which immerse the user. We are pushing more into XR technology, and have been successful with a number of research grants, which we hope to show you our developments through the year.