Cyborg Self-Portrait Prototype (Winter '09)

Conceptual Influences:
The goal of this project is to explore the postmodern view of my self as an evolving cyborg consciousness by creating a mechatronic self portrait. Technology is physically changing our brains through repetitive use, by re-wiring the neuronal plasticity of our brains to reflect digital patterns. There is a circular positive feedback loop between computers and our minds, in that they are reflecting and driving each other’s evolution. Although this view of a cyborg doesn’t require medical procedures, the process is still as invasive as implants by the way it is reshaping the connections in our brains. Networked digital consumption and interaction is marked by short, fast, repetitive packets of digital information. In this case, we are mentally becoming what we consume daily through our proprioceptive interaction with digital devices. The first version of this cyborg self- portrait will be influenced by these ideas, as well as by the fine arts work of cubism, constructivists, and others. I am drawn to traditional works of the early 20th century that emphasize patterns, moving towards abstraction but still retaining representational form. I feel these works show a reaction to rising industrialism, technology, and machines. Future versions of this project will expand more into robotics, motion capture, and the remote gathering and processing of physiological and psychological data to drive the mechatronic representations of my self. For more contextual details on my cyborg theory, see my writing entitled Jesus is Returning as a Cyborg: On the Origin of Digital Species, click here...

Narrative Description:
I will be constructing a Joseph Cornell style box, containing animated digital photography and video, as well as physical computing mechatronics to animate sculptural elements. One side of the box will contain a digital picture frame playing animation of a cubist 3D version of myself inspired by the paintings of Picasso and the photography collage of Hockney. The other side of the box will contain a flexible screen in a water tank, connected to a servo, so that it can be rotated. Processed still images of myself will be projected on the screen from the other side of the box using slides and alternating LED lights. A mirror will be behind the screen, with a 2-sided mirror in front, creating an infinity effect. A translucent plexi-glass sliding door will be driven by a motor to move back and forth in front of each side of the box. The door will have my image laser etched into it, with a hole cut for one of the eyes, containing a wide angle lens. A viewer will be able to see movement behind the door, and will have to look through the lens to see what it is. Light sensors along the bottom of the frame will detect the viewer, and trigger both the rotating of the screen, and the sliding of the door. The outer frame will also be translucent plexi-glass, to represent skin, and will contain LED lights that illuminate the silhouette of wiring and the “bones” and organs of the machine. Audio will consist of my reading the theory paper referenced in the previous section, and other ambient mechatronic sounds. My voice will be digitally modified slightly to suggest hybrid cyborg dimensions.

Ideally, in addition to the sound accompanying the video playing in the digital frame, I would like to add a microphone to capture, alter, and amplify the sound of the servo and water tank. The animation in the digital frame should be robotic with fast digital patterns of my broken image and moving 3D sculptural shapes. Eventually, I would like to use a Bluetooth adapter to change the animation by “mood” settings that I enter into my phone or laptop. I would also like to ultimately incorporate multiple sensors that combine to simulate vision, hearing, and feeling data (such as photoelectric, video blobby, microphone, sonic sensors), and then computationally process the combined data to generate variable mechatronic responses. This first version is intended as a rough sketch, or trial and error learning experience, to be revised as part of my thesis work (an possibly as part of the mechatronics project group work).

Required Resources:

1. 12” Digital picture frame playing mpeg 3D animated sculpture
2. Servo Motor
3. Small white cloth or plastic strip w/ anchors
4. 4 slides of processed images
5. 4 photocell light sensors
6. 12”x12 mirror
7. 12”x12” 2-way mirror
8. 12’x12’ clear plexi-glass (access to laser cutter in CS dept?)
9. DC motor, H-bridge, w/ silicon wheel and mounting brackets
10. 12” rectangular fish tank w/ pump
11. Large sheet of clear plexi-glass for frame
12. Arduino, breadboard, and circuits (wire, resistors, solder, etc)
13. Wood or particle board for the side and back of the frame
14. Microphone

Main Completion Tasks:

1. Order raw materials and parts
2. Create 3D cubist sculpture and robotic animation in Maya, and render
3. Print 4 slides of digital images to be projected on screen
4. Create circuit for photocell sensors, LEDs, motor, and servo.
5. Cut and laser etch the 12" plexiglass moveable door with imbedded lens
6. Create sound for animation played in digital frame
7. Construct flexible screen with servo, water tank, and infinity mirrors
8. Construct translucent plexiglass and wood frame housing for the box

3D Prototype (created in Autodesk Maya):

Mechanical Designs:

Aesthetic Designs and Source Images:

Artist Research:

Leonardo, Duchamp, Picasso, etc...