This work is a mobile robot produced as the outcome of a one-year stay as a fellow at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM). Its body, standing 75cm tall overall, is supported by an inverted pendulum system using two wheels and motors, and it moves while balancing itself. Because its footprint is small relative to its height, it can move freely within everyday human spaces just as it is.
A camera is built into its head. When it recognizes a viewer within its field of vision, the work turns toward that direction and moves as if following them. The exhibition was held at the Trinitatiskirche, adjacent to KHM. Mixed in among the works of Rundgang, KHM’s annual public exhibition, this work moved freely in every direction through the space where viewers came and went.
A robot that moves via an inverted pendulum is not unusual in itself. However, while placed within an art exhibition space, this work’s position is not fixed, and it changes according to the viewers. Moreover, even though it is not a performance using a human body, the non-living entity continues to transform. This work possesses a structure that questions such norms surrounding exhibition.
Because it moves while balancing itself, this work is constantly swaying back and forth. This appearance resembles that of an infant; despite having no hands or facial expression, and despite its electronic and mechanical parts being exposed, it contains an element that makes one feel the urge to protect it.
This work was produced not as a strong robot that extends the human body through technology, but in order to explore the nature of a weak robot.