Soft robotics is a relatively new field of research that aims to create flexible robots that are more easily adaptable to human interaction. Often, the forms of these creations and the mechanics of their movement are inspired by a close study of nature in an effort to ‘go organic’ with machines. 3D printing with flexible filament is one way in which this integration of robot and movement is taking on a flexible aspect.
The exhibit created gives the impression of examining the internal organs of an albino dragon as large, sheet white objects pulse and flutter under glass.
The team working on the installation explained their experience of it:
“These hybrid objects swell with air, they seem to live according to their own breath. These components are part of a whole, [they] belong to the same body whose moods can be observed by the beating of its organs. Spasmodic choreography draws the viewer into a journey wherein the objects appear as presented goods, ready-to-use products…mass produced organs.”
Ninety percent of the animal body is composed of soft or flexible material, this is one of living creatures’ strongest coping mechanisms. Rigidity is the only thing that can be broken and the state a body obtains when it is no longer able to modify itself in relation to its environment, it is the state known as part of death: rigor mortis.
“As technology advances, the computer and the human body enter into an increasingly intimate relationship. In thinking about the future, this growing proximity between man and machine has led me to imagine their might be a structural change in computers. I hypothesize that the computer will become organic, become a living, flexible entity. The question remains: will this way of designing robotics take root in our time?”
The work is on display at the Fresnoy National Studio of Contemporary Arts as part of the exhibition Panorama 17. Let us know if you have the opportunity to visit in the Exo-biote forum thread over at 3DPB.com.