IA Project Prompt #2: Alive Enough

Project 2: Alive Enough (Motion & the Body)

Conceptual Umbrella: Embodiment, memento mori, flesh, physicality, mortality, carnal presence; finite, fragile, temporal

Key Themes: The body as mechanism; movement as life; vulnerability and decay; repetition, strain, and fatigue; Frankenstein logic; visible seams and repair

Technical Focus: Servo motors and controlled motion; potentiometers and sensors; mechanical translation; remix and assemblage using found objects

Imagine: objects learning to breathe, machines pretending to be alive, motion as muscle, a body built, not born.

Challenge (Optional)

Feeling ambitious? Combine multiple motion systems, use DC motors, or translate motor-driven movement into compound or indirect motion using cams, gears, linkages, strings, springs, or other mechanical interventions.

Final Deliverable: An interactive artwork that uses motion and material to suggest embodiment, vulnerability, and the sensation of being alive—almost.

✔ One interactive motion-based artwork 

✔ Embedded circuit (prototype or resolved) 

✔ Documentation (photos + short video) 

✔ 300 word artist statement

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Inspiration

Chico MacMurtrie / Amorphic Robot Works

Chico MacMurtrie (with his collective Amorphic Robot Works) creates large-scale “soft” robotic sculptures that inflate and deflate using air pressure and vacuum, moving through sequences that read like breathing, collapsing, and re-forming. Their own project text describes these works as servo-pneumatic bodies that can appear vulnerable and ephemeral, transforming through cycles of motion that suggest existence, decay, and rebirth.

Fernando Orellana

Fernando Orellana builds robotic installations where motion behaves like a kind of agency—machines that “do” actions in response to sensed conditions. In His Study of Life (PAFA), the installation is described as four robotic machines outfitted with EMF, temperature, and infrared monitors (tools used by ghost hunters); when the monitors detect fluctuations, the robots perform specific actions using objects connected to painter Thomas Eakins—using motion to stage presence, doubt, and “almost-life.”

"The robots in the installation Voice are designed to hold protest signs, moving them up and down like a human protester might. Unlike their human counterparts, these robot activists will never grow weary or become distracted from their cause. They will loudly and stoically carry on their protest, until power is removed from them or their mechanical parts fail. As always, the robots will take on the tasks that we may find difficult to commit to or are reluctant to engage in."

Bill Vorn

Bill Vorn is known for robotic art projects that combine robotics and motion control with sound/light and interactive systems—often focusing on what he calls “artificial behaviors.” A strong example for your embodiment theme is Inferno (with Louis-Philippe Demers): it’s described as a participatory robotic performance where audience members wear exoskeletons that can control or constrain their movements, turning bodies into choreographed machines.

Marla Hlady

Marla Hlady is a Canadian artist whose kinetic works integrate electronic and mechanical systems with everyday materials. Her sculptural pieces frequently use motors and sound in installations that examine systems of movement, rhythm, and displacement, making visible the social or structural forces embedded in motion.

Arthur Ganson

Arthur Ganson makes kinetic sculptures where small mechanical movements feel oddly emotional—like gestures or effort. The MIT Museum describes his work as “subtle movements of artistic machines,” and in Beholding the Big Bang his own documentation explains a motor driving a gear train engineered to slow motion to an almost unimaginable timescale—using mechanical movement to make time feel physical.

Theo Jansen

Theo Jansen builds walking kinetic sculptures called Strandbeests, which he presents as a kind of “new form of life.” In his TED talk and related TED materials, the Strandbeests are described as walking kinetic sculptures that roam the coastline; the Strandbeest project’s own site describes them as skeletons made from plastic tubing that “get their energy from the wind.” Even without electronics, they’re an ideal reference for your “motion translation” lab: lifelike gait emerging from linkage logic.

Simone Giertz

Simone Giertz is a Swedish inventor, maker, and media personality known for building intentionally impractical, humorous robots, earning her the nickname “the Queen of Shitty Robots.” She gained recognition through YouTube projects in which she designed motorized machines meant to perform everyday tasks—like brushing teeth, serving breakfast, or cutting hair—but that function awkwardly, unpredictably, or poorly. Rather than hiding technical imperfections, Giertz foregrounds exposed wiring, visible mechanisms, and clumsy motion. Her work reframes robotics not as sleek automation, but as expressive experimentation.

For your project, Giertz is important not because her machines succeed—but because they don’t. Her practice models learning through failure: building first, refining later. More importantly, she demonstrates that failure itself can be aesthetic and meaningful. The stuttering motor, the misaligned servo, the over-rotating arm—these aren’t just mistakes; they create personality. In the context of Alive Enough, her work reminds students that awkwardness, strain, and malfunction can make a system feel more alive than polished perfection.

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Motors = Muscles

Before we build bodies, we need to understand their muscles.

There are three main motor types you’ll encounter in this class:

• Servo

• DC

• Stepper

Each one creates a different kind of motion. Each one produces a different kind of “life.”

Choosing a motor is not just technical. It’s aesthetic.

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1️⃣ Servo Motor

Controlled Position (Joint Logic)

A servo is a small DC motor combined with:

• A gearbox

• A control circuit

• An internal potentiometer (for feedback)

It has 3 wires:

• Red → Power (usually 5–6V)

• Black/Brown → Ground

• Yellow/Orange/White → Signal (PWM)

The signal wire carries a PWM signal from the Arduino.

Instead of telling it “Spin.” You tell it. “Go to 42 degrees.” And it goes there.

Inside, it checks its own position constantly. If bumped, it corrects itself.

That’s called closed-loop control. It knows where it is.

What It’s Good For

• Limited rotation (~180°)

• Strong torque for size

• Holding position under load

• Joint-like motion

Everyday Examples

• RC car steering

• Robotic arms

• Animatronic eyelids

• Camera gimbals

In This Project

• Breathing

• Twitching

• Head tilts

• Repetitive strain

• Gesture

Servo = elbow joint. Intentional. Behavioral. Controlled.

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2️⃣ DC Motor

Continuous Rotation (Raw Energy)

A basic DC motor is simple.

It has:

• 2 wires

  • Positive

  • Negative

Apply voltage → it spins.Reverse polarity → it spins the other direction.

That’s it.

No internal control. No positional awareness. No feedback.

This is open-loop control. You cannot tell it: “Rotate 37 degrees.” You can only tell it: “Spin.”

What It’s Good For

• Continuous rotation (360 degrees!)

• Speed!

• forward and backward motion

• Vibration (with an offset weight)

• Agitation

Everyday Examples

• Fans

• Drones

• Electric toothbrushes

• Blenders

• Toy cars

In This Project

• Trembling systems

• Spinning components

• Chaotic energy

• Relentless motion

DC motor = raw muscle. Powerful. Simple. Needs taming.

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3️⃣ Stepper Motor

Precision Through Steps

A stepper motor moves in discrete increments, not continuous rotation.

Instead of spinning freely, it moves in steps.

Most common steppers:

• 200 steps per revolution

• 1.8° per step

Each electrical pulse energizes internal coils in sequence, pulling the rotor forward one increment.

It Has:

• 4+ wires

• Multiple internal coils

• Requires a driver board

• Often needs a separate power supply

You cannot plug it directly into Arduino like a servo.

You control:

• Step direction

• Step count

• Step speed

Instead of: “Go to 45 degrees.” You say: "Take 50 steps.” It does exactly that.

What It’s Good For

• Precise positioning

• Repeatable motion

• Holding position under load

• Mechanical translation

Everyday Examples

• Printers of all sorts! paper printers, 3D printers

• CNC machines

• Laser cutters

• Scanners

• Anywhere motion with tight accuracy and precision is important.

In This Project

• Linear sliders

• Tension systems

• Mechanical drawing

• Structured choreography

Stepper = skeletal architecture. Deliberate. Structural. Precise.

Quick Comparison

Motor	Wires	Control	Best For
Servo	3	Angle via PWM	Joints & gesture
DC	2	Voltage only	Spin & vibration
Stepper	4+	Step pulses	Precision movement

The Big Idea

Servo → Controlled gesture

DC → Raw energy

Stepper → Mechanical precision

The motor you choose determines:

• How your object moves

• How it behaves

• How alive it feels

We are not just wiring circuits.

We are choosing what kind of body we are building.

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DO NOW:

Brainstorm! 300 words +1 image posted on your blog.

Brainstorm your concept.

Think about what kind of body you are building.

• Is it fragile?

• Is it strained?

• Is it mechanical and precise?

• Is it twitchy and anxious?

• Is it slow and breathing?

• Is it repetitive to the point of exhaustion?

Do not start with:

“What motor should I use?”

Start with:

What does this thing feel like?

Concept First. Always.

The motor is not the artwork. The motor is the muscle. The concept is the nervous system. Technology should help communicate meaning — not replace it.

If your concept is about:

• Vulnerability → maybe small, subtle motion

• Anxiety → maybe jittery, repetitive movement

• Decay → maybe slow collapse

• Control → maybe precise, rigid motion

• Chaos → maybe raw DC spin

Let the behavior serve the idea. Not the other way around.

What Will You Move?

The motor is only half the story.

What are you attaching to it?

Some material directions to explore:

• Clay

• Paper

• Fabric

• Found objects

• Food

• Paint

• Balloons

• Inflatables

• Toys

• Puppets

• Sand

• Wire

• Latex

• Plastic bags

• Hair

• Feathers

• Water

• Ice

• Thread

• Plaster

• Silicone

• Beads

  
  

• String

• Springs

• Rubber bands

• Metal scraps

• Broken electronics

• Organic materials

• Wax

• Foam

• Cardboard

• Tape

Ask yourself:

Does this material sag? Does it resist? Does it tear? Does it stretch? Does it stain? Does it rot? Material + motion = meaning.

Think in Translation

A tiny servo sweep can become:

• A breathing ribcage

• A nodding head

• A trembling hand

• A blinking eyelid

• A lifting chest

• A struggling wing

The magic happens in translation. Small motion → big psychological effect.

CHALLENGE: For the Ambitious

If you’re ready to push further: Don’t just attach something directly to a motor.

Build a system.

Explore:

• Cams

• Gears

• Cranks

• Linkages

• Pulleys

• Springs

• Counterweights

• String tension systems

• Lever arms

• Elastic resistance

• Sliding tracks

• Hinges

• Offset rotations

Translate rotation into:

• Linear motion

• Pulsing

• Oscillation

• Collapse

• Expansion

• Strain

Make the motor indirect. Make the motion surprising. Make the mechanism visible.

Final Thought

We are not building robots. We are building bodies that almost convince us. Almost alive. Almost breathing. Almost sentient. The goal is not perfection.

The goal is tension.

Now — start sketching.