SexCCTV.
December 16, 2008 3:24 PM   Subscribe

Giles Walker created fully animated robot pole dancers to see if it was possible to make CCTV cameras sexy using simple mechanics. Part of the “Mutate London” exhibition at the Behind the Shutters Gallery. SFW
posted by gman (16 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Big Brother Is Bumping And Grinding You!
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 3:38 PM on December 16, 2008 [1 favorite]


Those are about as "fully animated" as the animatronic Yeti on the Matterhorn at Disneyland. Take those same body designs, articulate them better, and have them play back movements captured from actual dancers and you'll have a much better shot at something "sexy."
posted by contraption at 3:40 PM on December 16, 2008 [2 favorites]


I'd actuate it.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:41 PM on December 16, 2008 [3 favorites]


I'd hit it.


With a supersoaker full of saltwater and a taser.
posted by stenseng at 3:43 PM on December 16, 2008


Not that looking actually sexy is central to the point of the thing, but conceptual artists doing stuff with animatronics really oughta step it up technically if they want to avoid unfavorable comparisons with Banksy's recent pet store project.
posted by contraption at 3:53 PM on December 16, 2008


Someone shut down Doctorow's computer before he freaks out and commissions some of these in bronze with superfluous gears and clockwork.
posted by GuyZero at 3:54 PM on December 16, 2008


Those are about as "fully animated" as the animatronic Yeti on the Matterhorn at Disneyland. Take those same body designs, articulate them better, and have them play back movements captured from actual dancers and you'll have a much better shot at something "sexy."

Ah, the internet. Spend twelve seconds watching a grainy video of something, snottily dismiss it, and explain how you would do it so much better.

(or you could actually go to the exhibition and experience it in person, and discover they are actually bloody good)
posted by cillit bang at 4:22 PM on December 16, 2008


I don't mean to to dismiss the whole exhibit out of hand, in fact I find it quite interesting and am glad it was posted. I just take issue with the description of robots that have maybe 6 servos apiece they can wiggle back and forth as "fully animated." It gets the point across, but a more realistic treatment would've pushed the things further down into the uncanny valley where they rightfully belong.
posted by contraption at 4:35 PM on December 16, 2008


i was there last saturday, the robots are in the same room as the face and the face definitely wins, the video images are projected onto a mold of a face as big as a person and is instantly hypnotic, like all my dreams of an emerald city come true, except the wizard of oz shook my hand and told me how to operate the repressive desublimation myself.
posted by doobiedoo at 5:01 PM on December 16, 2008


I'm reminded of an exhibit at the Temporary Contemporary in Los Angeles in the early 1990s.

Walking around the museum, you'd hear a rhythmic mechanical squeaking noise. For the longest time the source would be invisible, always around another corner. Then, you'd come to a mock-up of a natural setting featuring a tree - the noise was coming from behind the tree! And then you'd peek around the tree, and see a robotic animatronic man humping the tree, and feel like a voyeur.
posted by exogenous at 5:17 PM on December 16, 2008


This reminds me of Herbie Hanckock's Rockit video.
posted by Staggering Jack at 5:45 PM on December 16, 2008


Those are about as "fully animated" as the animatronic Yeti on the Matterhorn at Disneyland.

Actually, I forgot the quotes as it was lifted from Walker's site.
posted by gman at 5:56 PM on December 16, 2008


Metafilter: Spend twelve seconds watching a grainy video of something, snottily dismiss it, and explain how you would do it so much better. (or you could actually go to [real life] and experience it in person, and discover [it's] actually bloody good)
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 6:29 PM on December 16, 2008


Between this and the recent articles about "Aiko", the "anatomically correct" robot sort-of jokingly referred to in some stories as "the perfect wife", I'm feeling unaccountably depressed.
posted by jokeefe at 9:14 PM on December 16, 2008


The pole-dancer robots remind me of the deleted "stripclub scene" from Starwars. Oh wait ...
posted by starfyr at 11:38 PM on December 16, 2008


A saucy puppet show! Bender will be so happy.
posted by X-00 at 6:25 AM on December 17, 2008 [1 favorite]


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