inflatable anthropomorphic sculpture uses soft robotics to mimic breathing
the kinetic machine acts as a pulsating organ pressing against its ribcage.
a robotic machine that is ‘Searching for a Pulse’
MIT student Mateo Fernandez uses soft robotics to create an inflatable sculpture that visualizes breathing. ‘Searching for a Pulse’ is an anthropomorphic machine that is engineered to imitate a living organism or a pulsating organ. With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, the kinetic structure operates with soft robotics to mimic dynamic pulsations speculating a future ran by ‘breathing machines’. The fabricated skeleton sets up a 3D-printed ribcage of firmly conjoined polygonal frames through which inflatable soft material expands and contracts.
the inflatable sculpture acts as a pulsating organ
The anthropomorphic machine acts as a pulsating organ pressing against its ribcage while simultaneously being the ventilator providing it with air through a series of tubes. ‘The slow cadence of air fluctuating through the machine mimics that of a patient on a hospital gasping for air, every time less and less and less’, shares the designer. With the rapid development of artificial intelligence and the Covid pandemic in our rear mirror, the object seeks to project the past of a world shut down by a pandemic through breathing onto its speculative future, a world dictated by breathing machines. ‘Air is the substrate that ties everything together’, adds Fernandez.
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project info:
name: Searching for a Pulse
designer: Mateo Fernandez
video: Jabari
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