The Woods of Kingsley Manor

Agnus lives in Kingsley Manor, an area surrounded by dense woods and spooky spectres. Her friend Eleanor has mysteriously gone missing and now Agnus is worried. Deciding that the authorities are insufficient, Agnus decides to take matters into her own hands. She ventures deep into the forest in search of her friend. The story of Agnus is based on that of Luigi Cannatti’s hypothetical grandmother and her hypothetical search for her hypothetical best friend.

Agnus is based on the 3pi robotics platform from Polulu.com. This platform provides a combination of motors and a microprocessor to enable sensory based driving. The main sensors utilized on Agnus were “sight” and “hearing” through the means of an laser distance sensor (Lidar) and a gated sound sensor. The lidar sensor has a very narrow field of detection unlike a ultrasonic distance sensor (Sonar) whose field of detection is much wider. This is equivalent to “tunnel vision” due to cataracts often experienced by the elderly. The sound sensor worked by sending a pulse when a certain sound level was reached, similar to how elderly people can experience loss of hearing.

Two ghosts, played by members of the audience, either help or hinder Agnus as she tries(and fails) to navigate the forest. By using their ghostly ghost-bodies to create obstacles, they can guide her. Alternatively, they can spook the living daylights out of her. Agnus interacts in turn as any old lady searching for her lost friend in the haunted forests of LA would. She shivers and quivers. She turns this way and that. She calls out for Eleanor, and for her own dear life as she runs faster than she has run in over twenty years.

Agnus can’t help but feel that she is being watched. The reality is that she is being watched. Those audience members who are not ghosts spectate the shenanigans through a large glass window creating a separation, similar to watching a movie on a large television. The spectators peer into this alternate dimension of the Woods of Kingsley Manor.