Ars Electronica Festival 2019
‘Cryptid’ is an animatronic light sculpture that uses 18 linear actuators to walk through a space. The term ‘cryptid’ refers to a pseudoscientific classification of animals whose existence is unsubstantiated or based on anecdotal evidence. As human and robotic, natural and synthetic are increasingly amalgamated, the projects questions whether machines could be considered a subspecies.
The project went through many titles, concepts and goal changes during its production with the initial idea to create several smaller units that could walk freely, like swarm robotics but much slower. The early concepts of the project imagined the sculpture to walk directly on the glass bulbs, giving them a lifespan in which the work would slowly begin to malfunction and eventually collapse under the broken glass legs. Whereas it was challenging to bring this idea to reality, the final unit uses discrete supports to make walking possible without breaking the glass lamps.
This kinematic sculpture contains 18 active points of articulation and supports a range of 6 different Gait types. The bulbs used are non-standard T12 8ft (2.4 Meter) Fluorescent lamps with custom 3D printed mounts. The sculpture uses open source Phoenix hexapod code. Michael considers an ideal environment for the installation to be a vast indoor space, with ceilings upwards of 3 meters although temporary use in outdoor locations are also possible. The sculpture is powered by 220 Volts, best supplied via the ceiling to prevent cable wear from abrasion. Operating ‘Cryptid’ is a complex task and at present the work can be calibrated and run autonomously with strict de-activation procedures. Though, should a power outage or accidental shutdown occur the sculpture needs to be lifted on the maintenance trolly and re-calibrated. This involves homing all actuators so they can reset their default start positions, a process that can be completed within 10 minutes.