tz'ijk.2
TerracotaBot
Troy, United States.
Developed in collaboration with architecture and engineering students from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the third mestizo robots were made using fired unglazed clay.
The spherical structure is a deltoidal hexecontahedron composed of 60 three-dimensional ceramic kite tiles, clustered in 20 triangular frames that are held together in the corners by a custom metal joint-system. Three different ceramic tiles were developed.
The mechatronic module consisted of a double-axis algorithmically-controlled pendular system that shifts the sphere's center of gravity making it move.
TZ'IJK.2. Prototype's exploded axonometric drawing.
TZ'IJK.2. Design and testing of robotic pendulum system.
TZ'IJK.2. RPI architecture students developing ceramic tiles.
TZ'IJK.2. RPI engineering students testing the pendulum mechanical system.
TEAM
Paula Gaetano Adi & Gustavo Crembil
Design Advisor: Tom Roland
Technical Advisor: Mengyu Chen
RPI ENG Students: Jonathan Haase, Fan Rong, Jon Silvestri, Gregory Stankiewicz, Jiequan Zhang, and Judy Zhang.
RPI ARCH Students: Sarah Bertis, Carolyn Chalfant, Carlos Felix, Kendall Grapes, Jessica Krajewski, Claire Liu, Rushdan Majumder, Faith Marro, Christoper Muscari, Cara Porto, Lauren Ruskauff, Emily Sun, and Wang Zhe.
CREDITS
Funded by EMPAC and the Jaffe Fund for Experimental Media and Performing Arts, as part of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's interdisciplinary initiative Art_X@Rensselaer between the School of Architecture and the School of Engineering.
TZ'IJK.2. Inside view of TerracotaBot assembled.
TZ'IJK.2. Two finished robots with different tile design and one wooden spherical structure.
“Can a mestizo technology promote ‘otro futuro’ where dirt and mud are not seen as a representation of poverty but of life and biodiversity?”
TZ'IJK.2. Plaster slip cast molds recently filed with liquid clay.
TZ'IJK.2. Ceramic tiles ready to be fired
TZ'IJK.2. Viewers interacting with robot during a pulbic presentation at EMPAC, RPI.