2026PCM(2025)
Personhood(2024)
EMERGE:NCY(2023)
User(2026)
Metadata(2026)
Box Body(2023)
BEAM(2023)
3D-printed structure, programmed LED lights, stepper motors, and Arduino microcontroller
170 × 60 × 60 cm (66.9 × 23.6 × 23.6 in.) [Range of motion]
1 min. animated loop
2023 / Royal Society of Sculptors (London)
BEAM is our jab at a current shape of technology that is anthropomorphically narcissistic, designed to serve, and made to degrade. We swapped the elbows and knuckles of the human body for collinear joints hidden in a form common to antlers and trees. In place of servitude, we introduce ambiguity—communication is facilitated through body language and light, and is motivated in equal part by human presence and more mysterious environmental stimuli. And where most pieces of technology walk a line between graceful degradation or forced obsolecense, we present a third path: form and intelligence that patina beautifully over time.
BEAM was co-developed with Wei Zhang and Luling Wang. It was awarded as a finalist at the 2023 Interplay Kinetic Design Competition with 1k prize for further development.
The sculptural form consists of a custom 3D-printed shell modeled after organic branching structures. Movement is actuated by four NEMA17 stepper motors operating along collinear joints, driven by a microcontroller to execute bio-mimetic, low-velocity animations initially prototyped in Blender.
Light is treated as a kinetic element through a custom LED panel tube, with the possibility to transition from ambient diffusion to directional spotlighting, adding an additional dimension to BEAM’s movement language.
