Two robots on a concrete floor, each a red toy chassis with AA batteries, a circuit board and a wire cage, the balloon string running up out of frame
Prototype

Zenit Zeppelins

A flock of Balloon Robots

A flock of small robots, each tied to a helium balloon. The balloons catch any movement of air, from people walking by or an opened door, and the robots answer with little dances.

Developed during the Victorian Circus workshop, together with swummoq’s Niels Wolf we made a fleet of little robots that visualize motion of air and people in the space.

Seventeen small robots are independently crawling over the ground. Each robot has a big helium balloon attached above it. This balloon makes the robots sensitive to any kind of air movement in the space around them. Everything from plain air traveling over to people passing by or the balloon of the robot next to it triggers these robots. Little dances are the emergent response from feedback with the movement of the balloon and the movement of the robot itself.

This project originated from a workshop about emergent behavior, for which also my Dynamic Waves was an inspiration. This workshop was held at the Victorian Circus festival in Amsterdam. After that the work was shown at unDEAF and DEAF in 2007.

The robots are shown here in the Brakke Grond, during their testing; in Rotterdam on UnDEAF; and as part of the DEAF conference.
Someone kneeling on a brick floor, putting robots together between stacked Go Cart kit boxes, balloons hanging above
A single robot from above: a tangle of red, black and blue wires over the motor and wheels, the balloon string tied to the top of a brass rod
A group of finished robots close together, each with AA batteries, a small circuit board with LEDs and a cage of wire
Close-up of a row of robots in low light: batteries, wiring and red chassis
A bunch of white helium balloons tied up next to a caravan, the robots lined up on the floor below, beside the parts boxes
Robots driving in a loose line over a worn, red painted floor, seen from above
The installation in a gallery with a large chart on the wall: balloons floating above the robots on a concrete floor
Visitors walking between the balloons, robots on the floor below them
Robots and their balloons spread over a concrete floor, visitors in the space behind
Low view of a visitor walking through the flock, a robot right at their feet
Visitors among the robots, one crouching down to a robot, another reaching out to a balloon
The flock spread out over a worn brick floor, the first balloons floating above them