Assignment 2: Mechanical Symbiotes by Kristie Lord

For this project, I created three cardboard samples that have a symbiotic relationship with the body.

For this idea, I was inspired by an elephant, so I decided to make a large elephant trunk that bends with tusks on the side. My vision of the bending was when the elephant drinks water. Originally, I wanted it to bend based on me moving my head backwards, but the string I used didn’t have enough tension for that, so I decided on using my hand to pull the string to make the trunk bend.

This idea was inspired based on a four bar linkage and something one of my classmates made in class. I thought it’d be cool to add a hand to the four bar linkage, so it looks like you have an extra hand when you move. I also really enjoyed the sound this design makes which was completely unintentional.

For this idea, I really wanted to ensure that my body motion was causing the cardboard to bend instead of it being pulled by me. Originally, I wanted this sample to work opposite how it does, meaning standing straight, the cardboard is straight, and then as you bend so does the cardboard. However, when I attached it, I found it worked the opposite way and ended up liking that better as the cardboard bends opposite to your motion, which creates an interesting contrast.