Week 03

Project proposal

Description of the proposal

My project proposal is rooted in my creative journey, which I have consistently perceived as a birthing process. Although I have never undergone the physical experience of childbirth, I have consistently dreamt of it throughout my adult life, typically just before the conception of a significant idea or the public presentation of a meticulously prepared artwork. Confronting existential crises in the process of artistic creation, along with the artist’s metamorphosis during sleepless nights, physical pain, and the infusion of personal materials into the work, I have sought a means to confront and express the intertwined suffering and pain inherent in the artistic process.

The resulting artwork becomes an entity in its own right. While it breathes with my lungs and courses with my blood, it takes shape and separates from its creator at the moment of birth. It becomes its own entity, belonging to the public and itself, its expression and interpretation becoming part of the public domain—integral to external interpretations. It comes to life and establishes its identity independently of the artist.

One scientific study that suggests that mothers’ breathing influences the babies’ heartbeats. Additionally, another study claims babies and mothers have synchronized heartbeats during face to face communication.

I aimed to encapsulate this sensation through an interactive installation that captures the intensity, creativity, and transformative nature of creation. The creation would be embodied by a seemingly restrained, soft moving robot. This robot would respond and move to the breathing of the participant. The inhaling and exhaling that would be monitored by using a wearable sensor, partly formed out of the stretch sensor, that would change resistance based on the breathing and therefore stretching of the chest. Soft robots often utilize pneumatic/fluidic force or shape changing material to achieve the desired actuation. In the case of the silicone-based inflatable robot in this project, a pump will be employed to push and pull air in response to signals from the breathing sensor.

The visual representation of the moving soft robot.

References

• Marisa Satsia - Open Source Body

Fabrication and extraction of bodily fluids with DIY biology and healthcare technologies.

• Jonathan Pêpe - Exo-biote

The artwork is using kinetic soft robots as a representation of nknown living but sterile organisms. Exo-biote speculates on a future intimate relationship between the computer and the human body.

• Jiabao Li - Tactile Visions

This soft wearable tries to simulate an analog version of the searching behavior on the Internet by depriving all other sensory experiences and leaving only one signal channel.

• Riko Yasumiya - Heartbeat

An investigation into the boundary between machine and human body with the creation of a kinetic sculptural piece.

Aesthetic references

• Hajime Kinoko

• Arkadius

• Krištof Kintera

List of needed components

This is the list of parts and components I think I will need:

• DragonSkin 10 silicone
• Softer EcoFlex 30 silicone
• 3mmm silicone tubes
• Y-connectors
• Arduino UNO
• 5x Electrical pump
• 5x Solenoid valves
• Stretch sensor (conductive rubber cord/fabric or conductive thread)
• 5x 1K resistor
• 5x TIP120 transistor
• 5x 1N4004 diode
• Fabric
• Jumper wires
• Alligator clips