Numb

Technology is ubiquitous. Future is everywhere. I believe that all the trivial things surround us make nows’ so as to gather to form the future. As once insisted, the future is already at hand. What we can do is to discover, and to stay sensitive.
I am especially interested in the sensory aspect of experience. I wonder if the technology can enrich our senses where the ubiquity could be obstructive or even harmful emotionally and cognitively otherwise. And, I wonder if the technology can help us discover ourselves by realizing our own senses, so as to enhance the humanity.

Numb, shaped as an inflated and exaggerated eyeball, follows you and reflects the blinks of yours. As you become aware of Numb’s blinks, you realize your own eye blinks. Then you start consciously moving the muscle of your eyelids to make Numb blink. You become looking like sending a wink to the eyeball.
exchanging sensations. Despite it is the most frequent movement we make, eye blinking is the one that people are not consciously aware of except the moments like when trying to remove something in the eyes or winking to someone. Through interacting with Numb, you come to perceive the movement of your own. You even start to intentionally move your own muscles to make the robot blink.
The exchange of blinks works as a medium of the relationship between the human and Numb, leading us humans to awareness of our own body and physical sensation. This realization may be trivial but bring up some inquiries. How do we build relationships with artifacts? How do we communicate with them through senses? How does each other share senses? These are the inquiries that this project wants to deliver through Numb.

built with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Python
300x300x300MM(eyeball) + 1500MM(H)