Robot Plant Somehow Lives In Uncanny Valley
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Wednesday, 1 of September , 2010 at 12:48 am
Robot plants are not new to BotJunkie, but creepy ones are. Not that this robot plant is intended to be creepy, but like everything in the Uncanny Valley, it just sort of ends up that way. Or maybe it’s just me.
Each of the plant’s 169 artificial leaves is controlled by a piece of shape memory wire. When cameras mounted above the plant see your hand move over it, it signals the plant to shimmy its leaves in the same area in response to a ‘virtual wind.’
Plant (that’s what it’s called, “Plant”) was designed by Akira Nakayasu, and will be on display at Ars Electronica 2010. Pic of Plant sans leaves, after the jump.
VIA [ Designboom ] and [ Gizmowatch ]
Comments (2)
Category: Art
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Comment by Cliff
Made Wednesday, 1 of September , 2010 at 10:59 am
‘Plant’ definitely is an “uncanny valley” thing. The reason (I believe) is that the leaves don’t mimic wind movement accurately enough to fool our brain, so the plant looks more like it’s reaching for something to eat than blowing in the virtual wind.
Comment by Joey1058
Made Friday, 3 of September , 2010 at 6:47 pm
I’m calling it for what it is. This bot isn’t any creepier than that psuedo-chicken thingy with the bug eyes. What makes this uncanny valleyish is the goofy sounds it makes. Otherworldly sounds coming from a plant is just Star Trek Classic space opera.
