The project is inspired by the Soviet cartoon Hedgehog in the Fog. This cartoon is a canon traumatising event for many children from post-soviet countries. However, rewatching it as an adult, it’s a very interesting beautiful art piece! One of the accepted interpretations of the cartoon is this idea of being at a crossroads in life (or, more specifically, having a middle life crisis : D ). I got inspired by this feeling of uncertainty and vulnerability that the hedgehog represents.
Watch the cartoon here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQqgViGenvk
I will be doing this project together with the Computational Art and Design class, where I will create a generative landscape for the creature to traverse.
In Physical Computing, I will create a hedgehog robot. Visually, I want it to still look pretty techy and resemble the animal as vaguely as possible. I want to create a sense of a creature that’s fragile, vulnerable, and scared.
I plan on using the robot we are building now as the base for the hedgehog.
Vague plan:
Movement based on a random/semi-random pattern, traversing the space slowly
It has a sensor which gets tracked in experimental studio, the hedgehog’s location impacting the projection (landscape). It reacts to people approaching and reaching for it, running away from them.
Some options:
A. Hedgehog has a proximity/distance sensor which makes it speed up to “run away” until the proximity is far away enough
B. The movement of people around is tracked with the sensors in experimental studio, sending that input into how the hedgehog moves (also speeding up to run away)
C. Movement of the hedgehog is impacted by movement of people tracked in experimental studio, but it also has a distance sensor, so that it runs away and gets hectic (acts scared) not only when people approach, but also when they directly reach for it.
Hedgehog “panicking”:
When the hedgehog is running away, it is also more hectic, want to create a sense of it panicking
The hedgehog’s movements occasionally (on a timer maybe) get more hectic, going back and forth a bit more, even if there isn’t an interaction.