News
Tuesday 24 October 2006
Robotic snake to charm viewers
A two-metre high robotic snake which uses sensors to react to people nearby is being developed by experts at Nottingham Trent University. ‘Snake Robot’, which is constructed from a series of vertebrae containing pneumatic muscles, detects the movement of its viewer and reacts accordingly.
An interdisciplinary team of academics and technical staff is behind the ‘interactive kinetic sculpture’, including control technologist Dr Philip Breedon, product designers Jamie Billing and Tracey Cordingley and choreographer Dr Sophia Lycouris. The team are from the university’s School of Art and Design and School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment.
Dr Breedon specialises in control technology in artistic projects and the use of pneumatics which respond through movement in interactive sculptures. Jamie Billing’s and Tracey Cordingley's area of expertise is ‘critical’ design which exposes rather than conceals the product’s technology, and Dr Lycouris is interested in how dynamic changes in physical spaces affect the perception of that space.
A working prototype, along with a detailed animation of the final product, will be presented during Nottingham’s interactive entertainment festival, GameCity, which runs from October 25-29.
Dr Lycouris said: “This is an elegant robotic structure with human presence and the ability to express emotions through articulate combinations of snake-like movement. By detecting the characteristics of movement, Snake Robot invites its audience to engage in spontaneous dance duets.”
From January 2007, Snake Robot will be further developed with support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) as part of the ‘Designing for the 21st Century’ funding scheme.
The Nottingham Trent University researchers are one of three teams participating in ‘Emergent Objects’, a portfolio of projects funded by the scheme, and which explores design processes through the lens of performance. It is led by Professor Mick Wallis at the University of Leeds.
Professor Tom Inns, Director of Designing for the 21st Century, said: “The interdisciplinary project team associated with Snake Robot will establish strategies for linking technology to emotions and human perceptions. This knowledge will support our understanding of designing in the 21st Century.”
ENDS
Notes for editors: Snake Robot will be exhibited at GameCity between October 27-29, at the View from the Top Gallery above Waterstone’s bookseller, 1-5 Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham.
GameCity is a new annual festival of interactive entertainment that isn’t just for gamers. The idea is to have a videogames festival in the same way that we have other kinds of art festivals – in multiple venues for different kinds of audiences at different times of the day.
It is a unique partnership which is led by Nottingham Trent University and includes the Department for Education and Skills, the East Midlands Development Agency and the Greater Nottingham Partnership.
Image credits: Chris Forbes, Senior Technician
Snake Robot funding reference: Application ID No: AH/E507522/1
For more information on GameCity visit www.gamecity.org
For AHRC and EPSRC visit www.ahrc.ac.uk and www.epsrc.ac.uk
Press enquiries please contact: Dave Rogers, Press Officer, on Tel: 0115 848 8782, or via email: dave.rogers@ntu.ac.uk or Therese Easom, Press and Media Relations Manager, on Tel: 0115 848 8774, or via email: therese.easom@ntu.ac.uk
