With social distancing measures still in place in UK's major galleries and museums, British pop artist Philip Colbert has opted to offer the audience special means of viewing artworks by making good use of robots.

"Lobsteropolis," an exhibition with a coronavirus twist, opened Friday at London's Saatchi Gallery, featuring various depictions of lobsters, including large-scale paintings and sculptures.

What makes the exhibition special is that it also invites the audience to engage digitally via robots. The viewers are able to remotely control a telepresence robot to move around the gallery, and take a fresh look at the artworks via their smartphone or computer.

"The idea of using robots in the exhibition really came out of the pandemic," Colbert said.

While online exhibitions are getting popular in the COVID-19 era, the artist was thinking of creating something new and special that the audience could have access to.

"The society needs the activity to support all these cultural values that have been created and need to be sustained," he said, adding that robots might serve as a way to "keep physical spaces going."

The exhibition runs until November 29.

(Video via AFP, cover image from CFP)