Engine

With polysiloxane, artificial hair, and a Nissan V6 turbo 3000 engine, Wang Yinan (Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua Univ.) created this semi-organic engine.

Qi Ji (Engineering Physics, Tsinghua Univ.) and I embedded in it a sound controlled vibrator, giving the sculpture a slight tremble when audience walk close.

buggy
buggies are tiny little robots that run around on thermal paper and leave traces behind.

All buggies carry a paper motor and a section of resistance wire, both powered by a battery. When the motor turns on and the buggy stumble on the thermal paper, hot resistance wire leaves behind traces, and creates line art.

With different leg shape, length, and stiffness, buggies posses different motor skills, and create various style of line.

I can fly
An experiment of generating organic kinetics using non-organic material, this piece uses Shape Memory Alloy to actuate wood and metal structures, which are laid out as insect collections.

Exhibited at Three River Arts Festival Gallery.

Subtle movements of specimens are randomly triggered by Arduino control board.

Testing Shape Memory Alloy: before and after current flows through