Art Piece | Maman
https://www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/en/the-collection/works/maman
Artist Expression/Intent
Initial impressions were intimidating, unnatural, and invasive. However, after reading more about the artist’s life and intent, it shifted more towards protection and creation. The inclusion of the eggs in the sculpture introduces a maternal element that is made more obvious with its name. Overall, the artist seems to display the grand but intimidating natural force of motherhood.
Exploration with Soft Robotics
I believe the main benefit this work can receive from soft robotics is movement. In its current state, the sculpture is still and only has its fixed characteristics to express itself. With the introduction of leg movement, the sculpture could further enhance its message by reacting to touch or simply “be on guard” by moving constantly. One thing I believe would not work as well is its size. The original work is very big and that helps grab attention to itself and its intricate details. Those features may be lost when required to scale down for soft robotics.
Applications of Soft Robotics
I believe a critical part would be to centralize the location of actuation of its several appendages. An article found in an earlier exercise would serve as the best solution. The soft valve shown in the paper is shown being used in a starfish soft robot. Up to four out of five appendages were able to be controlled all within one central unit. I believe the methods presented in the paper could be applied to a new iteration of the artistic work. The introduction of movement through soft valves and actuation would add life to the original work by mimicking natural instincts.
Zou, JiaKang, MengKe Yang, and GuoQing Jin. “A Five-Way Directional Soft Valve with a Case Study: A Starfish like Soft Robot.” In 2020 5th International Conference on Automation, Control and Robotics Engineering (CACRE), 130–34, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1109/CACRE50138.2020.9230177.