Shape-shifting Cypher sculpture by Ozel Office is controlled by motion
California architecture studio Ozel Office has created a blobby robotic sculpture that changes shape in the presence of people, or through the movements of those wearing a matching virtual reality headset.
Cypher is an interactive robotic sculpture that is controlled by sensors, scanners and virtual reality (VR) technology. The sculpture inflates and deflates when people or objects are in its proximity, and also based on commands given by a person wearing a connected VR helmet.
The "cyberphysical sculptural installation" was designed and developed by Ozel Office, a Los Angeles studio that explores the intersection of architecture and technology. The firm is led by architect Güvenç Özel, who is a faculty member at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The Cypher project was largely funded by a grant from Google's Artists and Machine Intelligence Program.
The sculpture has a T-slotted aluminium frame with 3D-printed steel joints. Within the frame, the team placed an air compressor and a computer, which serve as the "brain" of the sculpture. These components are connected to sensors, valves, actuators and other elements that play a role in the sculpture's movement.
For the "skin", the team used flexible 3D-printed panels made of silicone and carbon fibre-infused thermoplastic. The spiky texture was influenced by the skin patterns of natural creatures, and is meant to challenge the aesthetic expectations of robots. The sculpture's dark hue also conveys a message and blurs one's reading of the object.
"The black glossy colour is used to enhance the mystique of the object further, therefore blurring the true morphological qualities of the sculpture through a play between the absence of light and variable reflection," said the team.
See the full story here: https://www.dezeen.com/2018/08/14/shape-shifting-cypher-sculpture-ozel-office-controlled-motion-sensors-virtual-reality/