the installation collects heart beat data from people during a fixed time, at a specific location and translates it into generative art. the interactive digital and physical work demonstrates how each individual experiences a unique moment. The final piece created by the ‘heart bot’ will be donated to feeding america, the country’s leading domestic relief charity. tool of north america – most notably aramique, and odd division also helped create the celebratory design. The idea was to create a collaborative piece of art that unfolded throughout the night by inviting all guests to spend thirty seconds with their finger touching a heart rate sensor, while the robotic machine would draw on the wall in real time. Heart Bot consists of a pulse sensor embedded into a small pedestal, a wall with two stepper motors mounted 12 feet high and 10 feet apart, and a long belt stretched between them. Attached to the belt in the middle is a rectangular frame fitted with two pen-wielding robotic arms that can draw through the window in the middle of the frame. In crude language, the ‘heart bot’ analyzes people’s data and generates drawings from them. The user places a finger on the pulse sensor, then presses a button on the pedestal to begin the robotic process. The pulse information is fed to a small piece of software that sends a mixture of choreographed actions and pulse information to the motors and the robotic arms. By adding or taking up slack in the belt, the motors can move the robotic arms anywhere on the wall. As the motors drag, the robotic arms move around the wall in large, slower motions, then twitch up and down and left and right to make smaller, faster motions. It all results in large-scale generative wall drawings. Aramique with partner Crouse were the ingenious minds behind this concept and aimed to bring it in life at Tool. After its one-night only appearance at The New Museum, Heart Bot made a trip across the country to Intel’s San Francisco’s facilities. There are tentative plans for it to be shown again at the Computer Electronics Show, but details for that exhibition are still forthcoming. The final work created by Heart Bot will be donated to Feeding America, a domestic hunger relief charity.
