Electronic ARTrium

Design and build an immersive, interactive, interesting and engaging sensor-driven dynamic art installation. The installation consists of a combination of three kinds of original art — sound, mechatronics, and projected video — that all respond to participant motion in a synchronized way. Key points in participants’ poses, extracted in real time from camera output, are processed and then streamed over Ethernet to control the images, sound, and mechatronic movement. The goal is to give the participants a sense of wonder and intrigue as they experiment with how their body movements change the art. The first generation of this installation is entitled “Raise Your Hand” and will include an abstract, darker environment alongside a more realistic, brighter environment. The darker environment will have internally lit mechatronic mushrooms and a rear-projected video wall; the mushroom caps will spin and get brighter and the video will show more activity when hand is raised. The highlighted area will be defined by a 5-foot-wide suspended umbrella and directional speaker. The umbrella will be lit with a projected image of looking up at wind-blown trees, sky, and animated birds; the bright area also has mechatronic flowers that move and change color and musical changes in response to raising a hand.

• In Spring 2022, the team has focused on learning the music and visual art technologies, composing the interactive visual art and music, development of the mechatronic prototypes, and developing the Ethernet network that connects all the devices.
• In Fall 2022, the team expects to complete the Ethernet networking, implement projection mapping for the umbrella, scale and augment the mechatronic plants, further develop the interactive sound and visual art, develop the ability to process multiple cameras and multiple participants per camera, and build the set for showing the installation in late October in the lobby of the Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Tech