Art Installation Tracks Human-Robot Interaction

Andre Stubbe is a Computational Designer.  Now I'm not entirely sure what that means, and although I could look it up I don't think I will; I'm far happier thinking of him as some esoteric genius with a talent for making obscure and slightly unnerving robotic sculptures.

A case in point is this robotic eye, one half of a set he created which stare at each other until someone else steps into view.  At that point they eyes, which are in fact webcams in moving housings and controlled by specially written Java software, track the new presence and, depending on their level of interest, watch them or ignore them.

Previous projects include, as his thesis work, a delicate anglepoise tentacle called Outerspace, which would grope around for light and movement:

"Outerspace is a reactive robotic creature. Its motivation is based on curiosity, the desire to explore the surrounding space looking for contact. Touch it, play with it and watch its behaviour" Andre Stubbe

Flickr photo set [via electro^plankton]