Bat-Bot 1

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Bat-Bot2

Description:

Bat-Bots, seeks to make the inaudible, audible, forming a responsive system that creates a generative sound space.  The Bat-Bots in this installation use distance sensors to detect participants walking through a space.  As the Bat-Bots detect the presence of a person they emit recorded tracks of echolocations that vary as a person walks closer. In an earlier project titled Chiroptera Domus a bat house that used scanning heterodyne sensors inside its roof recorded bat echolocations.  The 5-second echolocation recordings were stored in a hard drive.  Now the Bat bots will express these recordings through this interactive sound sculpture. Nine Bat-bots will be created for this installation.  Built from CNC plasma cut steel and 3D printed ABS plastic each Bat-Bots consist of a distance sensor connected to a microcontroller that controls the audio playback from a micro SD card.  Each Bot will has an amplifier and speakers to emit its selection of tracks based on the distance to a person in the space.  The bots will be installed along the wall and ceiling of a space or corridor.  Together these bat bots will create an immersive and generative sound composition.

Images shown are from an outdoor installation at "Slingshot International Festival of Music, Electronic Art and Technology", 2015.

Media:
There are 5 Bat Bots, each Bat Bot is made from: CNC plasma cut steel, ABS plastic, distance sensor, custom built microcontroller, micro SD card player, amplifier, speakers, power supply, electrical wire, steel cable.

Dimensions: Individual Bat Bot: 5"L x 12"W x 6"H, Installation dimensions can vary - with an ideal space of 15'L x 15'W x 10'H.

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