parametric wave-maker
This mechanism was one of a series of projects that came out of a collaboration between Sarah Cancienne, Shiguang Chen & myself, Katherine Treppendahl. We were interested in translating processes and information between the physical and virtual realm. Most of our experiments involved ways of using fluctuations in light to induce other types of fluctuations (mechanically and virtually). In this, our final project, we specifically wanted to explore ways of modeling sine curves as representations of change over time. The robotic wave-maker works by “sleeping” when there is not enough light present and moving when there is sufficient light. In subsequent experiments, we also set it up in an environment so that, as people walked past (and blocked the light directed at it from a nearby window), it would flutter, waving to those who came near it. As the diagrams and the video demonstrate, the mechanism is a system made up of translations of motion, information, and phenomena.
The definition used was similar to this one
