Parfois Blog » Blog Archive Partly organic, partly robotic

>> show info

About Parfois

If it was up to us, all the best design in the world would be posted within the Parfois Portfolio. But it's not up to us. Stumbling the web we often bump into things worth sharing. The world wide web is so full off great things that will never end up in our portfolio, but which we want the world to see. For this we created our blog. At this moment there are 4 of us blogging on a regular basis. Work, studies and social life makes that there are weeks with a lot of posts, and weeks without. But we'll do our best in bringing you the nicest shit on a acceptable basis.

Partly organic, partly robotic

15.04.10

A few days ago, I was very pleased to discover Gilberto Esparza, a mexican artist, which is interested in making robots that interact with the enviroment. His last project, Plantas Nomadas, is a robot that works with the help of microorganisms and contaminated river water. The key for this process is the microbial fuel cells. According to wikipedia : “A microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a bio-electrochemilcal system that drives a current by mimicking bacterial interactions found in nature.[...] A microbial fuel cell is a device that converts chemical energy to electrical energy by the catalytic reaction of microorganisms.” Summing up, Plantas Nomadas is a self-sufficient robot that can walk to the river and drink contaminated water. Through a microbial fuel cell proccess, the produced energy feeds the robot and make it able to walk, while the surplus helps the plants to grow. A great interaction between technology and life cycle.

I encourage you to have a look at his past project, Parasitos Urbanos, where small robotic creatures interact with the urban enviroment.

Both projects are nicely illustrated as well.