Information
France Cadet >
»dog[lab]01«, 2004 - 2004
Co-Workers & Funding:
france cadethttp://cyberdoll.free.fr/cyberdoll/index_a.html
Technology
Hardware
The robots used are I-Cybie robots from Tiger now distributed by Silverlit Electronic.To allow the dogs to be reprogrammed, some hardware modifications are necessary: (cf www.aibopet.com)
Unlike AIBO from Sony, these robots haven’t been designed to be reprogrammed and a little operation is required…
1. a MAX232 (or 233) chip has been soldered inside the robot to allow the communication with the serial port of a PC (as well as a plug and a switch on his back). The shell of the robot is fully removed, the electronic is modified, the shell is customized and then reassembled.
2. an internal 2MB flash memory, that will contain the new program, has been added.
3. A boot loader has been installed to allow the robot to read the flash memory and to start on this new program instead of its original program, which is no longer used… all the movements have to be reprogrammed with the 16 motor drive (12 real servo for the paws, and 4 cc motors: neck, head, mouse and tail), as well as the sounds (ADPCM format, 8bit, sample rate: 8KHz), the light of its eyes (green, yellow, red) and all the sensors (3 touch sensors, 1 light sensor, 2 sound sensors,1 voice recognitions with 8 different commands, balance sensor (right, left, back, butt, face…).
4. Now, the program written in C on the computer can be downloaded through the RS 232 port thanks to the C232 cable which has been adapted to the robot (mini jack et USB power). ICSDK, Context and Terminal.exe are used to compile and download the C program into the robot via the serial port, and to communicate with it. Once the program downloaded, the robot can be disconnected from the PC, he is now autonomous.
Descriptions & Essays
In this experimental space, seven little chimerical robots are evolving, some animals which have the general morphology of a dog but some have bovine coats provided with horns (mad cow disease?), pork skin (xenotransplantation? unless it’s a cross with the famous nude mouse?), or quavering bleats (ESB? Dolly’s clone?), meowing (research for the perfect pet combining cat and dog?), strange skin, either clear like a jellyfish or phosphorescent such as GFP Bunny, Eduardo Kac’s famous rabbit using Green Fluorescent Protein, well known for marking cells.
Could this enchanting and audacious combination of robotics with different transgenic animal species be a testimony to how blind and unrelenting eugenics is in its search for a new, more resistant, more productive or more universal animal race? Or for a race which is more genetically compatible with man itself (for organ supplies)? Or a more socially adapted pet robot? The modifications of these improbable creatures were based on very real research and experiments… and demonstrate their possible consequences. This is an ironic and entertaining warning of the possible dangers and excesses of cloning, eugenics and other animal experiments.
Welcome to the brave new world…
Literature
Cadet, France. »10 places on "rue Paradis".« In Art au paradis - exhibition catalogue, edited by . Marseille, FR: 2009.
Cadet, France. »Dog[lab]01.« Antennea 9 (Spring 2009): 23-31.
Cade, France. »machine affection.« NEURAL 32 (Spring 2009).
Cadet, France. »Digital Arts, Tendencies, Artists, Places and Festivals.« MCD et M21 Editions (2008).
Cadet, France. »SweetPad.« In Homo Ludens Ludens / Playware/ Gameworld, edited by . Gijon, ES: LABoral, Centro de Arte, 2008.
Cadet, France. »Art Embodies A-Life: The VIDA Competition.« Leonardo 41, no. 1 (2008).
Exhibitions & Events
2004
Festival :