Soft Robot (2021) is a bio-inspired automata that simulates a human-animal interaction and response

The Flight and Freeze response observed in threatened animals is a neurobiological mechanism we as humans can experience, sometimes despite a lack of obvious threat.

Fall 2020

An isolated space within an isolated community and far away from reality, an escape. Soft leaves carpet the asphalt and then the dirt path, there are no footsteps left, especially once you reach the grass. The road is only 40 feet away but entering this secret space hushes the outside, a simulated escape from the isolated community far away from reality. The heavy humidity leaves a haziness in the cool air that coats your eyeballs like you have to blink extra hard to clear your vision. It doesn’t matter because between all those suspended water droplets in the air and the shortened autumn days, it feels dark, even at midday. A cozy retreat, within a retreat, far away from reality.

The advantage of losing touch with reality is that simulations can be constructed. To experience such collective falseness, perhaps implies that reality is limited to perception.

Stepping deeper into this isolated space, I mindlessly step towards the bank of the simulated pond. A deep pool with a synthetic black concrete edge, though the pool could be no more than 10 feet in depth, the thick green water was unrelenting in exposing it’s contents. With my final step onto the concrete edge, bright orange flashes in the water and disappears with a blink. I froze still, scanning the dark pond for any clues to the elusive orange entity. Only a minute passed before slowly, a swarm of tiny orange bodies began to surface from the concealing dark waters. Hundreds of goldfish rose upwards, creating a bloom of florescent orange. The school drifted as one entire unit, moving in a soft wave pattern as if to simulate the flow of water in this still pond. Satisfied with this visual mystery resolved, I stood to leave. Again sensing my presence though vibrations within the pond, the fish buried themselves back into the unseen depths.