ABOUT THE BODYGUARD
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After a few months of development and after being presented for the first time at the sculpture fair Unika 2004, the interactive bodyguard caused quite some stir and surprise amongst visitors, as shown on the video files on this page.
The entirely hand carved wooden figure was born from a creative and brillant cooperation between Woodcarving master Teo Mahlknecht and the computer scientist Dr. Benno Senoner.
The animated bodyguard is able to change the direction it looks at by rotating the head and moving the eyes following persons and objects in movement.
Dr. Benno Senoner developed the electronics hardware concept and wrote the software that animates the figure.
Teo Mahlknecht was responsible to build the sculpture and the development of the mechanical parts.
Tecnology: the system works by capturing the scene in front of the figure through two video cameras that are hidden in its chest which are attached to an embedded mini computer which analyzes the movement of objects with a frequency of 30 frames/sec.
The ad-hoc written software is equipped with arificial intelligence algorithms which try to always follow only one person or object even if there are multiple objects moving. This leads to realistic motion tracking behaviour even in crowded places.
The sculpture shown here is meant only as an example and can be built in many variations and types of materials and enhanced with audio to make the figure talk.
Places where an animated sculpture could be employed:
Shop windows, entries of halls, hotels and restaurants, museums, exhibition booths and everywhere an innovative and artistic eyecatcher is needed.
Examples of variations of the animated figure:
It is possible to rent the bodyguard or other figures.
Material: stone-pine wood hand carved and hand painted.
Dimensions: height: 200 cm, width 100 cm, depth 50 cm
Weight: 60 kg
Power supply: 110/230V stabilized
Software: real time motion tracking based on embedded Linux operating system
Angle of sight about 90 degrees, minimum distance of tracked object 150 cm