Stelarc Exoskeleton @ STRP

Excerpt from the Exoskeleton performance at the STRP Biannual in Eindhoven, Credits: Concept and Performance Stelarc Walking Machine Design/Construction/Electronics/Programming f18institut / Stefan Doepner, Lars Vaupel, Gwendolin Taube, Tom Diekmann Technical Assistance: Joy Wagner Manipulator Construction: Jan Cummerow / f18institut Prototype programming: Ulf Freyhoff Computer Simulation: Steve Middleton Exoskeleton A six-legged, pneumatically powered walking machine has been constructed for the body. The locomotor, with either ripple or tripod gait, moves fowards, backwards, sideways and turns on the spot. It can also squat and lift by splaying or contracting its legs. The body is positioned on a turn-table, enabling it to rotate about its axis. It has an exoskeleton on its upper body and arms. The left arm is an extended arm with pneumatic manipulator having 11 degrees-of- freedom. It is human-like in form but with additional functions. The fingers open and close , becoming multiple grippers. There is individual flexion of the fingers, with thumb and wrist rotation. The body actuates the walking machine by moving its arms. Different gestures make different motions- a translation of limb to leg motions. The body's arms guide the choreography of the locomotor's movements and thus compose the cacophony of pneumatic and mechanical and sensor modulated sounds....