Description of the Robotic Chair
The Robotic Chair (1984 - 2006) is a generic-looking wooden chair with the capacity to fall apart and put itself back together. With shuddering force the chair collapses to the floor then with persistence and determination proceeds to seek out its parts and upright itself. The Robotic Chair is distinguished in the world of objects for its capacity to elicit empathy, compassion and hope.
As an object, the chair has been a constant and trustworthy partner in the history of civil society. We depend on the chair to support our bodies as we depend upon the earth beneath our feet. The Robotic Chair stands in for the individual and a society over the course of a lifetime - falling apart, falling down, gathering oneself together, picking oneself up, again and again. The Robotic Chair articulately and concisely reminds us on a grand scale that there is magic - that there is hope.
The Robotic Chair seat houses a custom robot charged with the ambitious task of locating the scattered parts (legs and back), reassembling itself, then restoring itself to its former chair status. The chair acts autonomously guided by an overhead vision system and is not dependent on viewer presence or interaction to perform. The Robotic Chair is a collaborative project by artist Max Dean, professor/entrepreneur Raffaello D'Andrea and artist/industrial designer Matt Donovan.
History of the Robotic Chair
The Robotic Chair was conceived in 1985 for the Artist-in-Residence Program at the National Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa. The initial planning and research was done with the expertise and assistance of George Hollinworth, a professional engineer whose field of expertise is control systems. The concept at that time had a robotic arm housed within the chair seat. A full-scale model was built and used to develop a motion study to test the feasibility of a robotic arm housed inside of the chair seat. The motion study became the basis for the animated video produced by Kristan Horton in the mid 90’s.
In the late 90's, Dean embarked on realizing another robotic project, The Table. This piece was conceived in 1984 prior to The Robotic Chair. One of the concepts Dean wanted to explore was to give the artwork an opportunity to decide with whom it would interact. The Table seeks out an individual viewer and it endeavors to establish a relationship through movement.
Dean began fabrication of The Table in 2000 and joined forces with Raffaello D'Andrea. The team grew to include Matt Donovan in 2001 when he oversaw its re-design and fabrication. The Table is now part of the collection of the National Gallery of Canada.
Dean, realizing he had a great team in place, proposed that they go on to design and build The Robotic Chair. D'Andrea proposed abandoning the robotic arm concept entirely in favor of making the chair seat the housing for the robot. With this concept in place the team established a list of design priorities. The first and foremost being that the chair seat and legs must be capable of lifting the chair up into its upright position. The design and prototyping began in 2003 and was completed in 2006.
The funding to build The Robotic Chair has come from a variety of sources. The bulk of the funds have come from individuals in the Toronto/Ottawa arts community.
Technical Specifications of the Robotic Chair
Dimensions
- Chair
- height; 84 cm
- width: 49 cm
- depth: 44 cm
- Platform
- height; 15 cm
- width: 244 cm
- depth: 244 cm
- Lighting Grid
- height; 30 cm
- width: 427 cm
- depth: 427 cm
Materials
- Chair
- aluminum chassis with wood veneer
- custom mechanical joints, 14 MicroMo electric motors, wheels, battery pack, wireless radio, custom electronics designed and built by Steve Lowe
- four carbon fiber legs covered with wood veneer, steel
- fiberglass covered with wood veneer chair back
- Computing Infrastructure
- laptop computer with custom software
- video camera
- Platform and Lighting Grid
- plywood base with custom kevlar sprung floor
- aluminum truss with flourescent light fixtures
Performance Times