2019 • arduino, rapid prototyping, fabrication
Collaborators: Shin Chang, Eva Knaggs

web

An enclosure built by a joint effort between humans and robots.

Overview

String-pulling robots weave through poles following lines that have been laid down by a human interactor. Over time, the strings that they leave behind intertwine like a 3D spider web, creating an enclosure that cannot be made with just humans nor with just robots, rendering one useless without the other. This is the premise of Web, an installation exploring human-robot collaboration.

Line followers

Our robots use two infrared sensors to detect the contrast on the ground caused by the black tape on white paper, and is programmed to adjust the left and right wheel motors such that it stays on track. As long as it detects the line, its LED "eyes" will glow green; however, when the line is missing, the lights turn and remain red until it gets directed back onto the course. Rather than hide the internal configuration, which still had a rough appearance with wires and breadboard galore, we decided to showcase it by making the final chassis out of plexiglass.

Prototyping with a cardboard box and newspaper rolls

Our early prototypes used rolled up newspapers as the poles and a taped-together robot with a cardboard box as its body. We tested various arrangements of poles and found that configurations with one central pole yieled the best results, especially when the strings were attached to the top like a maypole.