via the excellent pasta & vinegar weblog I found the work of artist/engineer Kenneth Edmund Rinaldo and Engineer Mark Grossman.
They built the flock:
Our Flock consists of three 9 1/2 foot long jointed robotic arms, constructed from grapevines, which hang from the ceiling and interact with viewers, participants and each other. Each dangling arm has an array of three infrared sensors, projecting out from the top of the arm, which function as active eyes and permit the sculptures to avoid participants walking around the installation. Another infrared eye at the tip of each arm functions to allow the sculptures to approach and simultaneously react to participants presence. Each arm also has an array of four microphones which function as ears allowing the sculpture to move toward participants. The microphones are placed so relative volume levels of viewer/participants voices can be monitored.
The flock is brilliant. It’s what Gilligan’s Island would be like if the professor had been Von Neumann.
-w.
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