Art that captures movement, not form

Every movement is a combination of rotation and translation, and once you isolate each component of the movement, a mechanical contraption can be built to imitate it. This sort of bare-bones art style is not necessarily minimalistic; in fact, it can get quite complex.

The Idea

In this piece, I attempt to take a behavior and strip it down until only its movement remains. As the name suggests, I want to represent the concept of the “comfort zone” as a movement. The comfort zone is an equilibrium where someone wants to remain. The energy required to step out of the comfort zone is significant, but returning to the comfort zone is as simple as riding the wave back.

My role

• I wrote the computer vision script that uses PID control to bring the glowing orb— LED-embedded ping pong ball—back to its “comfort zone”.

• I designed and built the corkscrew wave mechanism that transforms rotational motion into translational motion for the orb.

  • I used a laser cutter to cut out the individual pieces.

  • I assembled the final product with a total of four screws and no glue.