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Sonic Automata

An interactive, autonomous, audio-reactive, robotic sound installation exhibited at UC Santa Cruz in December, 2015.

Media: laser-cut masonite, electret microphones, vibrating DC motors, servos, LEDs, Arduinos, construction paper, moss, magnets, electronic components

Rare-earth magnets are embedded in each robot so they can be easily mounted to magnetic surfaces like structural I-beam supports and refrigerators.

Assembled Motor-bot: Its microphone "ear" is housed internally and is pressed against the robot's mounted surface, functioning as a contact mic that can detect sounds (tapping, knocking, etc.) transduced through whatever surface the robot's connected to.

The robot enclosures are made of laser-cut masonite.

Motor-bot circuit: Arduino Pro Mini 328, DC motor, RGB LED, electret microphone, (3) rotary potentiometers, push-button, 3.7V/1200 mAh lipo rechargeable battery, resistors, transistor, diode

Assembled Servo-bot: Its microphone "ear" faces outwards and can detect ambient sounds in the environment.

Close up of servo-bot's laser cut microphone enclosure (electret microphone visible in center)

Servo-bot circuit: Arduino Pro Mini 328, servo, RGB LED, electret microphone, (3) rotary potentiometers, push-button, 3.7V/1200 mAh lipo rechargeable battery, resistors

Exposed circuits of a coupled motor-bot and servo-bot

The robots physical configuration effects how well they can hear each other and their environment. Additionally, servo robots can attach (couple) their servo to other robots to tap on their neighbors and trigger their sound sensors. As a result, changing the robots' physical configuration and connection scheme can yield unique and ever-changing rhythmic performances over time.

Front face panels can be removed for access to internal circuitry

Dec 14, UCSC Digital Art and New Media 2015 Open Studio Exhibition

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Sonic Automata is composed of simple robotic organisms that exist within a larger acoustic ecology - feeding off the sounds in their environment and making sounds in response. Each autonomous robot is equipped with an “ear” (microphone), a sound-making “appendage” (motor or servo), and is programmed with one of two simple rule-based behaviors based on its morphology:

1. robots with eyes: if (a sound is heard) {make sound;} (or)

2. robots without eyes: if (no sound is heard) {make sound;}

In turn, a feedback loop is created between the robots as they continuously hear and engage each other through sound - generating emergent patterns resembling basic forms of animal communication. The specific rhythmic patterns the robots emit are abstract representations of “crash and bloom” cycles experienced by many biological systems, such as the growth and collapse of animal populations. Whenever a robot's performance is triggered, the amount of rhythmic pulses will either increase, stay the same, or decrease based on pre-determined probabilities. Once a robot reaches its maximum threshold of rhythmic pulses (12), it will “collapse” and its next performance will only consist of the minimum amount of rhythmic pulses (3) before repeating this process indefinitely.

Viewers are invited to "feed" the Sonic Automata with their own sounds by knocking and tapping on the surfaces they inhabit. The robots will engage in an audio-reactive conversation that evolves into increasingly elaborate and ever-changing rhythmic performances over time, allowing us to glimpse how complex natural systems can emerge from simple constituents that self-organize into a whole greater than the sum of their parts.

MUSIC

//Arduino code on Github

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