In our project, the viewer would enter a private space where on the opposite wall to the entrance there would be a plant-like robot. When the viewer enters, soft music would be playing, and the plant would be moving slowly and smoothly. Once the viewer is in the private space, the music would stop, and the plant would droop and stop moving. The viewer is provided in the space with simple musical instruments to experiment with how the plant responds to them. Behind the scenes, the performer would be listening in on any sounds that are made by the viewer and moving the plant accordingly. Harsh and loud sounds would be responded to by quick movements from the plant as well as the light color. If the harsh and loud sounds continue for longer than a moment, the plant would respond by drooping again. The smooth and graceful movements would only resume when the viewer creates soft melodies or talks to the plant. The relationship that is created between the viewer and the machine reflects what it looks like to learn how to take care of something. The smooth and graceful movements represent the plant flourishing and growing, while the drooping represents its response to neglect or abuse.
Our goal for the simulation was to develop how the robot would move. The simulation shown here is not our final decision on how it will move. We think that we need more time to program and develop how it is going to move since that is a main objective of our project. This simulation does represent well what the space is going to look like and showed us that it would be an effective set up.
I think that this simulation does show us that one of the most difficult technical elements will be programming the movements and expressions into the plant.