ECOBOT
An Animated Landscape
Created by Adrian Bockian '09 and Alex French '11 for Robotic Design Studio (PHYS/CS 115), Wintersession 2009.
Inspiration
Alex was hoping to make a robot that would reflect the importance of sustainability. She was thinking about maybe making a trash can that yells at you when you don't recycle and a recycling bin that prasies you for recycling, or possibly a fancy robot that would deliver your recyclables to the recycling bin for you (especially since now the recycling centers have been moved from just down the hall in the dorms to various remote locations that are harder to find or get to, confusing and discouraging people as to where or whether to recycle). Adrian sent a message to the course conference expressing interest in some sort of nature or park scene, with ducks following their mother in a line, or possibly a robot flower that opens up in response to sunlight or water. I liked the idea of a scene with ducks and possibly flowers or other plants as well, so we decided to team up. Alex really wanted to incorporate a message about the consequences of environmentally unsustainable actions, so we decided to make an educational model landscape which would be pretty and peaceful but which could turn very ugly as a consequence of not caring for the environment.
We first pictured the scene like this: a pond with ducks swimming in a line and following their mother; flowers, plants, and other trees; a house with solar panels and a light, powered by the sun (a flashlight) and wind (using a windmill). We hoped to have some option that would let the viewer choose non-renewable energy over renewable energy by removing or de-activating the windmill and solar panels and demanding oil as a source of energy. This would eventually lead to an oil spill which would pollute the land and water, causing all the plants to wilt and the ducks to die. Sad, yes, but that's the point we wanted to get across to our audience.
After sleeping on this idea a day or two, we got back together and did some more brainstorming. We revised and expanded our scene idea into something like this:
Our scene would be in a fictitious, all-encompassing, symbolic park for our nation, the National Park. Everything in the park would correspond to one of four particular "stations" on a panel at the front of the landscape (the four boxes at the bottom of the diagram). Each station would represent a different environmental category and would have two options: one for an unsustainable action (in red lettering) and one for a sustainable alternative to that action (in green lettering). As much as Alex would have liked to have a scene that started out good and allowed the viewer to make everything go bad and end there (again, to send a message of alarm), we decided that since kids would be at the exhibition, it was important to include ways to correct the damages, so things could end happily. Besides, the message we really wanted to send was that things can go bad if you don't take care of the environment, but those things can be (at least mostly) good again if you start taking care of it. Here is the plan we came up with for the actions at each station and their consequences on the landscape:
Station 1
Red lettering: "Throw waste in the trash bin - See what happens to it"
Waste goes down a chute to landfill --> touch sensor --> sound of a thud (short), sound of trees being cut (continuous), trees fall
Green lettering: "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - Reduce waste in landfill"
Waste is removed from landfill and placed in recycling center --> sound of trees being cut stops
Station 2
Red lettering: "Vote to build the National Parkway - go everywhere in the car, consume oil, & pollute"
press button --> bike path unfolds, cars move on belt, sounds of traffic, coughing sounds
Green lettering: "Walk, bike, carpool, use public transportation"
press button w/ cross walk/bike sign--> traffic sounds stop, cars stop, highway folds up, nature sounds start, sigh of relief sound
Station 3
Red lettering: "Leave the lights on when you're away and waste electricity"
light switch turned on--> light in house turns on, sound recording: "Attention, nation, due to increased demand for electricity, our only option is to drill for oil in the National Park," trees rotate to oil rig, oil rig sound
Green lettering: "Turn off the light - Conserve energy & switch to renewable energy"
light switch turned off--> light in house goes off, oil rig sound stops, oil rig turns to windmill, wind sound starts
Station 4
Red lettering: "Build a factory that releases pollutants"
place factory in factory groove --> touch sensor in groove --> pollutant released into water, fish no longer visible, moose walk away (move to other end of track)
Green lettering: "Improve the factory to reduce pollution"
press button --> test tubes dumped into water (water clears up), moose return
The messages we wanted to convey:
Station 1: Recycle! Too much trash means that landfills need more room, or more landfills have to be made, which is likely to cause trees to be cut down to make room for them. Besides, not recycling paper is sure to cause more trees to be cut!
Station 2: Conserve gas and oil! The more you drive, the more you increase the demand for oil and the more greenhouse gases you release into the atmosphere through your car's emissions, contributing to global warming. (Hybrids are great, but they also contribute!) You will also pollute the air more, irritating people's lungs and potentially contributing to diseases such as asthma. You can conserve gas and oil by walking, biking, carpooling, and using public transportation as much as possible.
Station 3: Conserve energy and use renewable energy! Turn off lights and electronics when you're not using them. Use energy efficient lights and appliances. The more grid energy you use, the more you contribute to the demand for oil, coal, and other non-renewable energy sources. Drilling for oil and coal mining will harm the ecosystems in which they occur.
Station 4: Don't pollute! Pollution can and does spread. The factory might dump pollutants into the water to get rid of them, but those pollutants will get into the soil and air and travel far through water, soil, and air. Pollution will harm species or drive them away. It could also get into people's lungs and drinking water.