Robot and Man. From content to form
A person is born soft and weak, and dies hard and hard. Strength and rigidity are death companions .
Lao Tzu
Perhaps this indisputable truth was guided by the initiators of the Exo-Biote project, Jonathan Pepe and Julien Guileri, whose goal was to create flexible robots that can make movements with many degrees of freedom ... It is such robots, as the authors of the concept believe, that in the future will be able to ideally “adapt” to a qualitatively new level of communication with a person. We suggest you evaluate the first results of development and express your opinion on the prospects of the project.
To breathe “life” into the initially dead artificially created material, endowing it with the possibility of making movements similar to those realized in living nature and, subsequently, using the opportunities obtained in communicating with a person. This is precisely the task set by the creators of the joint development of the Institute for Computer Research and Mechanical Control, as well as the Center for Science and Visual Culture in the Imaginarium laboratory, with the active support of Neuflize Bank.
Nature itself became the ideal prototype for the design of futuristic elements of the collection moving along the intricate paths of the collection, as well as the mechanics of their movements. As a way to implement the plan, 3D printing technology using flexible soft materials was chosen .
In accordance with the idea of the authors of the project, mechanical prototypes created in the laboratory should “learn” to imitate the natural movements of some natural organisms as if flexible soft robots did it. A brilliant example of such a natural analogy for the authors was a soft-bodied, seemingly completely amorphous octopus, capable of lifting and carrying objects, swimming, walking, changing body shape over a wide range, skillfully crawling through disproportionately thinner holes and even mimicking it to the environment.
Exo-Biote is not just a talented realization of the imagination. This is a kind of clever “Lego constructor”, consisting of a set of elements that can recreate certain motor functions. Assembling the individual elements of such a “designer” together will create a soft robot with fundamentally new possibilities for movement and communication.
In the final installation, presented on the video, the individual elements of the futuristic Lego, switched by wires with a control unit and placed under the glass, live their own lives, pulsate, rotate and move along non-linear paths, involuntarily capturing their eyes and sometimes causing conflicting sensations.
”These hybrid objects are filled with air. They seem to be alive and breathing on their own. These components are parts of a single whole, they belong to one body, whose behavior can be observed by the pulsation of its organs. Spasmodic choreography involves an observer on a journey where objects appear to be finished products, mass production bodies ”- share his thoughts with Julien Guilery.
As you know, up to 90% of the body composition of the vast majority of the fauna of our planet is soft or flexible tissue, which, in all likelihood, is one of the basic principles for the survival of a species. Solid material easily breaks upon application of the appropriate force, and it is in this state that the body is incapable of further adapting to environmental changes and, using formal terminology, is in a state of “rigor mortis” or death.
The Exo-Biote project, sponsored by Jonathan Pepe and Julien Guilery, is the first step in embodying their own philosophical view of being and the prospect of the coexistence of Homo sapiens and his Sentient Creations.
“... With the development of technology, the computer and the human body enter into an increasingly close relationship. Reflecting on the future and on the increasing closeness of man and machines, I imagined that it is possible that computers will face not only hardware and software, but also structural changes. My hypothesis is that computers will become organic, will turn into living and flexible creatures. However, the question remains open: will there be a transition to such a vector of robotics development in our lifetime? ”- says Jonathan Pepe himself.
The work was presented in France at the Fresnoy National Studio for Contemporary Art as part of the exhibition - part of Panorama 17.
Dear readers, we are always happy to meet and wait for you on the pages of the iCover blog ! We are ready to continue to delight you with our publications and will try to do everything possible to ensure that the time spent with us is pleasing to you.
Lao Tzu
Perhaps this indisputable truth was guided by the initiators of the Exo-Biote project, Jonathan Pepe and Julien Guileri, whose goal was to create flexible robots that can make movements with many degrees of freedom ... It is such robots, as the authors of the concept believe, that in the future will be able to ideally “adapt” to a qualitatively new level of communication with a person. We suggest you evaluate the first results of development and express your opinion on the prospects of the project.
To breathe “life” into the initially dead artificially created material, endowing it with the possibility of making movements similar to those realized in living nature and, subsequently, using the opportunities obtained in communicating with a person. This is precisely the task set by the creators of the joint development of the Institute for Computer Research and Mechanical Control, as well as the Center for Science and Visual Culture in the Imaginarium laboratory, with the active support of Neuflize Bank.
Nature itself became the ideal prototype for the design of futuristic elements of the collection moving along the intricate paths of the collection, as well as the mechanics of their movements. As a way to implement the plan, 3D printing technology using flexible soft materials was chosen .
In accordance with the idea of the authors of the project, mechanical prototypes created in the laboratory should “learn” to imitate the natural movements of some natural organisms as if flexible soft robots did it. A brilliant example of such a natural analogy for the authors was a soft-bodied, seemingly completely amorphous octopus, capable of lifting and carrying objects, swimming, walking, changing body shape over a wide range, skillfully crawling through disproportionately thinner holes and even mimicking it to the environment.
Exo-Biote is not just a talented realization of the imagination. This is a kind of clever “Lego constructor”, consisting of a set of elements that can recreate certain motor functions. Assembling the individual elements of such a “designer” together will create a soft robot with fundamentally new possibilities for movement and communication.
In the final installation, presented on the video, the individual elements of the futuristic Lego, switched by wires with a control unit and placed under the glass, live their own lives, pulsate, rotate and move along non-linear paths, involuntarily capturing their eyes and sometimes causing conflicting sensations.
”These hybrid objects are filled with air. They seem to be alive and breathing on their own. These components are parts of a single whole, they belong to one body, whose behavior can be observed by the pulsation of its organs. Spasmodic choreography involves an observer on a journey where objects appear to be finished products, mass production bodies ”- share his thoughts with Julien Guilery.
As you know, up to 90% of the body composition of the vast majority of the fauna of our planet is soft or flexible tissue, which, in all likelihood, is one of the basic principles for the survival of a species. Solid material easily breaks upon application of the appropriate force, and it is in this state that the body is incapable of further adapting to environmental changes and, using formal terminology, is in a state of “rigor mortis” or death.
Philosophy of life
The Exo-Biote project, sponsored by Jonathan Pepe and Julien Guilery, is the first step in embodying their own philosophical view of being and the prospect of the coexistence of Homo sapiens and his Sentient Creations.
“... With the development of technology, the computer and the human body enter into an increasingly close relationship. Reflecting on the future and on the increasing closeness of man and machines, I imagined that it is possible that computers will face not only hardware and software, but also structural changes. My hypothesis is that computers will become organic, will turn into living and flexible creatures. However, the question remains open: will there be a transition to such a vector of robotics development in our lifetime? ”- says Jonathan Pepe himself.
The work was presented in France at the Fresnoy National Studio for Contemporary Art as part of the exhibition - part of Panorama 17.
Dear readers, we are always happy to meet and wait for you on the pages of the iCover blog ! We are ready to continue to delight you with our publications and will try to do everything possible to ensure that the time spent with us is pleasing to you.