I approached this assignment as a rapid prototyping situation, and I put on an album and told myself I had to be done by the time the album was over. While I didn’t produce the most polished results, it was a really good exercise in following my instincts, making quick decisions, and experimentation.

I was inspired by the webbing/open weave fabric for the first iteration, and how it looked when bunched up. I used the multi-cell pouch actuator, and really liked how it looked like a centipede or some other slug-y bug as the actuator contracted.

The next two weren’t quite as successful in my opinion; for this one I wanted to play with tension of the fabric vs. the tension that the actuator created, and with the relative rigidity of the pipe cleaners vs. the fabric.

This last prototype also played with rigidity- I added cardboard/chipboard to the back of the triangle-shaped actuator and also mirrored the triangle shape in felt cutouts that backed the chipboard on one side and was allowed to balloon out on the other side.