Claw: Feel the Humanity
Category
Interactive Installation Art
Status
Completed
Year
2024
Method
Embedded & Mechanical Engineering
Overview
Step into a realm where you meet directly with humanity. This installation, a seemingly simple and weirdly-constructed claw machine, is not just a nostalgic arcade game — it is designed as a medium to between its user and humanity.
I’ve long wanted to do some projects in a tangible form. This winter when I finally had some time, I started the design of my very first installation art project. It’s called Claw.
Design of the whole structure came up when I saw the news about surgical robotic arms. One's life is basically decided by a robot. In other words, the robotic arm acts as a medium between a doctor’s hands and the patient’s whole life.
That’s why I decided that the installation’s overall form should be a claw machine: with minimal effort of controlling a joystick, users can contact a much complicated object or concept through the machine.
And the concept that I chose is humanity.
By this installation I’m not expressing my ideas; I’m just creating a medium between the user and humanity to enable users to feel their connection.
In Claw, Humanity is split into three parts: Theology, Philosophy and Science, which I think are the most fundamental blocks of humanity. Each of the blocks are embodied by different elements.
Theology
Theology is embodied by objects that are caught by the machine resembling the Chinese tradition Zhuazhou (抓周) where one-year-old children pick up things from the table which people believe signs his future aspirations.
Philosophy
Philosophical concepts related to falling in different movies.
- Sisyphus. A do-over for one thing.
- Alice in Wonderland. A descent into chaos.
- Vertigo. Falling into psychological entrapment.
Science
Science is embodied by Artificial Intelligence (GPT).
The data of the claw machine (xy axis position, electromagnet status, electromagnet height, what is being caught) are collected every second, and the moment when the object falls, the data is sent to ChatGPT. It will choose which type of falling it is according to the philosophical database and give its thoughts, which changes the screen to display the chosen concept and prints out the output.
Technical Details
The working version is built with aluminum extrusions, several laser-cut or 3D-printed components, two microcomputers, a three-motor system and an electromagnet.
