The Indo-Danish arts duo Pors & Rao, also directing PATHOS Project (https://www.wysszurich.uzh.ch/projects/associate-projects/pathos) at Wyss Zurich conceived the following concept for an installation:
In an otherwise empty room, cartoonish looking humanoid body parts are slowly, smoothly and quietly drifting around on the floor, appearing to flow in the currents of a liquid, sometimes rotating while moving. The only static object is the head. Within five to ten minutes, the parts come together to form the whole body. As soon as the last part is in place, the eyes open. After a while, the parts split up again and the cycle restarts.
To turn this concept into reality, a robotic platform is required that allows mounting the body part shells and moving them in the room. In this thesis, the different required components should be selected and integrated to provide a robust platform.
To allow flexible motion planning, we would like to use omnidirectional wheels. A suitable platform should be selected according to the requirements. An interface to control the motion should be provided on an on-board microcontroller.
In order to coordinate the motion of the robotic platforms (around 10 in the final installation), some form of communication is required. One solution could be a central WLAN router that provides the network infrastructure for the vehicles. Suitable hardware needs to be selected and integrated on the platform.
The installation will be deployed in a museum. For this reason, it should run robustly and require as little manual intervention as possible. Therefore, an automated charging infrastructure would be useful.
The project is a joint project between ASL and Pors & Rao (http://www.porsandrao.com).
The Indo-Danish arts duo Pors & Rao, also directing PATHOS Project (https://www.wysszurich.uzh.ch/projects/associate-projects/pathos) at Wyss Zurich conceived the following concept for an installation:
In an otherwise empty room, cartoonish looking humanoid body parts are slowly, smoothly and quietly drifting around on the floor, appearing to flow in the currents of a liquid, sometimes rotating while moving. The only static object is the head. Within five to ten minutes, the parts come together to form the whole body. As soon as the last part is in place, the eyes open. After a while, the parts split up again and the cycle restarts.
To turn this concept into reality, a robotic platform is required that allows mounting the body part shells and moving them in the room. In this thesis, the different required components should be selected and integrated to provide a robust platform.
To allow flexible motion planning, we would like to use omnidirectional wheels. A suitable platform should be selected according to the requirements. An interface to control the motion should be provided on an on-board microcontroller.
In order to coordinate the motion of the robotic platforms (around 10 in the final installation), some form of communication is required. One solution could be a central WLAN router that provides the network infrastructure for the vehicles. Suitable hardware needs to be selected and integrated on the platform.
The installation will be deployed in a museum. For this reason, it should run robustly and require as little manual intervention as possible. Therefore, an automated charging infrastructure would be useful.
The project is a joint project between ASL and Pors & Rao (http://www.porsandrao.com).
- WP1: Requirements definition and literature review.
- WP2: Platform selection and motion control interface (omnidirectional wheels, motors, batteries, motor control)
- WP3: Communication infrastructure (e.g. WLAN)
- WP4: Charging infrastructure
- WP6: Integration & Testing
- WP1: Requirements definition and literature review. - WP2: Platform selection and motion control interface (omnidirectional wheels, motors, batteries, motor control) - WP3: Communication infrastructure (e.g. WLAN) - WP4: Charging infrastructure - WP6: Integration & Testing
Ability to work independently. Experience in working with electronics, such as controlling motors, interfacing sensors and embedded programming to provide interfaces to the hardware is a plus.
Ability to work independently. Experience in working with electronics, such as controlling motors, interfacing sensors and embedded programming to provide interfaces to the hardware is a plus.