The Marbling Octobot is a robot that is inspired by an octopus. Octopi squirt ink when they are threatened by a predator. It is their defense mechanism. The Marbling Octobot uses that defense mechanism as its  inspiration behind the project. 

The Octobot marbles paper by squirting ink onto water. Once it squirts ink, a comb, combs through the water, creating a beautiful marbled pattern. After, the user slides the robot off the tub of water and places a piece of paper on the water bath and pulls it up. This transfers the ink onto the paper, creating a unique piece of art.

The robot squirts ink by fulling it's syringes up with ink and then expelling the ink. The syringe intakes and outputs ink because the top is connected to a servo. Each servo is programmed to move between 10-30 degrees which expels the right amount of ink that a dropper may expel.  The servos are programmed to expel different amounts of during each process. The reason for this is to create a robot that makes a unique piece of art each use.  

With over millions of different species around the world, each animal has its unique attributes. We were given the task of recreating an animal behavior into a piece of art or a mark; the twist is that we, humans, were not allowed to make this mark with our bare hands. We examined animals behavior and honed a specific concept or body part. Our chosen animal, the Peregrine Falcon, is one of the world's most unique birds. It lives in all parts of the world, but particularly high altitudes and spends much of its time in the sky. We focused on its aggressive behavior and how it flies exceedingly fast without the result of death. The Peregrine Falcon can dive up to 240 mph when going in for its prey; specifically, 3/4 or more of their diet is made up of birds. Its specific wing motion and structure interested us and are key components to its unique behavior. We used wood, LED lighting/Arduino, two desk fans, a fog machine, straws, and a complex 3D printed wing. The motorized falcon wing will flap through condensed fog and wind to show its unique flight pattern and structure. Our wing will include a series of linkages to give and accurate representation of such a specific motion. Our complex visual mark is produced by the combination of the colorful LED strip and the fog stream lines.

A device that replicates the motion of a peregrine falcon’s wing flapping and gliding and how it affects the air around it. 

We wanted to show how intricate the motion of the peregrine falcon and when looking at slow motion videos of it I realised that the way it flaps moving so fast could be really interesting aerodynamically. Replicating the airfoil profile of the wings has been challenging because there isn't a profile online and we can't do 3d non-linear flow simulation so we basically had to guess what it looks like based on general knowledge of birds we found and pictures of the wing. Fortunately the mechanism for the flapping has been more obvious to design because we had a slow motion video of the falcon flapping.

Who is the king of the jungle? The lion... no. The real king of the jungle is the tiger, the largest, strongest, and fiercest of all the big cats, of all of the animals in its kingdom. When approaching the task of emulating the animal, Abe and I threw away many mundane ideas; in a way, it is in disrespectful to mimic the walking or biting of the tiger since these are not unique. Instead, we chose to copy the marking process of the tiger, a beautiful display of scraping away at a tree. 

To create a product that emulates this motion, Abe and I divided up the mechanism into parts: I would work on the arm while Abe would create a claw. When creating the arm, I strived to achieve realism and this is shown in the design. The initial prototypes used rubber bands to create tension within the mechanism, but this proved a path to failure as  difficulty caused from the overtension led to broken parts. In the end, I chose to work with a dual pulley system similar to a window shade to move the wooden arm. 

Creating the claw was a small and big task at the same time. Most of Abe's time was spent perfecting the claw retraction mechanism. He used a wooden frame and rubber bands to propel the wooden claws. Over time, we made a decision to move away from the retractable claws and towards 3D printed, fixed claws due to concerns of miniaturization. 

In the end, our product is a mechanized, pulley operated, wooden arm with claws that scratches at plaster: quite underwhelming. Others have motors, LEDs, and wind tubes. Our product isn't going to save or improve lives, our product creates art and with it expression. For years humans have been trying to depict their environment, even developing photography to be perfect. Now I ask, is perfection beauty? Is a pure white canvas better than a splash of paint? It is not a accuracy of our project that makes it art, it is the raw and realistic nature of our product that make it successful.

Our project is an abstract, artistic iteration of the complex behavior of the mating of two tiger sharks; it simulates the motion of sharks, while leaving an artistic mark throughout the process. 

Throughout the earth, there are countless species of unique and complex animals scattered across the globe, each with their own complex set of behaviors. The Tiger Shark, located in tropical coasts, is a very dangerous specimen that has not been seen by very many people due to the inherit danger; however, the Tiger Shark is a very interesting animal, and Aveen and I wanted people to have a simple, and safe method of observing the complex behaviors of sharks. We created the "Tiger Shark Mating Arena", a platform in which the process of Tiger Shark mating is displayed to the user, while creating an artistic mark during the performance. The mating of sharks is a very complex behavior, as the movement is very rapid and confusing, even when caught on the best cameras; this project helps reduce the confusion for those that are interested in the movement and behavior of sharks. The project is created from acrylic and silicon to give it a very clean aesthetic, while also having a solid foundation by using such sturdy materials. Using servos, our group made a motorized shark that simulates the female shark, while someone manually operates the male shark as it tries to mate with the female. The sharks are made of a colorized wax, and as the models move around inside of the arena, it leaves a mark on the paper that covers the acrilic arena, creating an artistic mark.

The Birds of Paradise are some of the most incredible creatures in the world. They possess several unique features and abilities such as their bright colored patterns, and their behaviors. For this studio, we looked at different animals and their different behaviors in relation to courtship, locomotion, and aggression. My parter and I focused on the Victoria's Rifle Bird and its' behavior when displaying courtship. The male lifts and fans its wings as it almost hops around while shifting its' head from side to side. Sometimes the female participates in this performance as she tries to decide whether or not she wants to pursue mating with the male. 

We created a wearable object that mimics the look of the Rifle Bird to be used in a fashionable or artistic way. It contains a motion sensor that activates LED lights when someone approaches the costume. This is a representation of the courtship between the female and the male rifle birds. 

When one thinks of art they think of a drawing, a painting, or a photograph. Art is a combination of things, and can also possess simplicity. If given more time, our project would be finalized and able to be worn to make art through photography. I hadn't known of the Birds of Paradise until I came to NuVu, and their beauty and uniqueness is something that should be known and celebrated. 

The Marbling Octobot is a robot that is inspired by an octopus. Octopi ink when they are threatened by a predator. It is their defense mechanism. 

The Marbling Octobot marbles paper by squirting ink onto water. Once it squirts ink, a comb, combs through the water, creating a beautiful pattern. After, the user move the robot off the tub of water and places a piece of paper on the water bath and pulls it up. This transfers the ink onto the paper, creating a unique piece of art.

The robot squirts ink by fulling it's syringes up with ink and then expelling the ink. The syringe intakes and outputs ink because the top is connected to a servo. Each servo is programmed to move 10 degrees which expels the right amount of ink that a dropper may do.