NYU Abu Dhabi Visiting Student Research Award (Fall 2021, Spring 2022)
Research Supervisor
Teammate
Michael Leo
Website
Type
Robotic, Physical computing, Outdoor installation
I secured a research assistantship award to join Professor Michael Ang‘s research team. Along with students Michael Leo and Jannie Zhou, we researched media art outside of the gallery and off the grid. Our project included building desert robots for the upcoming “Desert Media Art” class for NYUAD’s Interactive Media program.
Our team made two prototype wheg (wheel = leg) robots that we affectionately named “Wheggo”. We used an existing design by Brainergiser and also created a new robot specifically designed for the desert.
The robots can move through surprisingly difficult terrain, especially considering they are mostly made of cardboard and hot glue. We got the chance to test the robots in different terrestrial situations, including the desert, grassland, and indoor tile ground. Rather than “conquering” the dunes, the robots are designed to engage gently with the terrain and provide a platform for exploring the interaction of technology and nature.
Lydia Ziqi Yan 