Haptic interaction with artificial intelligence (AI) entities that have a physical embodiment is a developing area of research which investigates how to design communicative tangible expressions for human-AI interactions. However, traditional sketching techniques such as storyboards or making fully functional prototypes do not seem to be convenient options to capture these agents’ potential for haptic interaction in context and rapidly explore possible ways of expression. In a recent study, we designed and built a Wizard of Oz (WOz) rig where users engaged in haptic interaction with a handheld non-humanoid robot as a form of embodied AI agent that was not working yet physically controlled with strong magnets by a human wizard hidden under the table. The paper reports on this WOz rig, shares reflections on the human wizard’s bodily engagement with users through his magnet-driven magic wand, and discusses its potential as a low-tech responsive experimentation environment for exploring movement-based AI expressions. Our contribution is the WOz mechanism and design-related insights derived from its operation, which could be useful for similar studies on haptic interaction with embodied AI agents.