Robotany is a collaborative of Jill Coffin, John Taylor, and Daniel Bauen to combine nature and robotics. Breeze, the first installation of Robotany, is an ambient robot inhabiting the body of a japanese maple. Breeze can visually sense and react through 360 degrees, allowing her to reach out to you and others whenever you are near. This is not a dancing bush, the motion is subtle and artistic, and at the same time, surreal.

Breeze Interactive Animation 
Move mouse from left to right in the image below to see motion. 
Click and Keep Mouse Motionless to view rotation clip. (May need time to load).
 

Download Video of Breeze

Presentations
- BBI - Fribourg, Switzerland : Breeze is a winner of the Belluard Bollwerk International 2006 Creation Contest, and thus made her first appearance at the Belluard Festival in Fribourg, Switzerland this June 2006

- ZeroOne - San Jose, California : A Global Festival of Art on the Edge

Robotany Bio's
Jill Coffin  (Lives in Zurich, Switzerland) is a digital artist, wearable electronics designer, and doctoral student at the Wearable Computing Lab, Institut fuer Elektronik, ETH Zuerich.

Daniel Bauen (Lives in Atlanta, GA) is a Swiss-American mechanical engineer focused in the design and application of electromechanical systems (mechatronics): combining electronics, programming, and mechanics to work on projects involving robotics, product design, interactive art, micro-controllers, and biomechanics. He currently works as a mechanical engineering consultant with the ability to incorporate electronic systems into his clients projects.

John Taylor (Lives in Seattle, Washington) is a nomadic technologist, originally from the Silicon Valley.  The bulk of his belongings are currently on Bainbridge Island in Washington State, but cities such as Portland, Los Angeles,  New York, Austin, Zurich, and San Francisco have recently played host  to his wanderlust.  Currently, his travels are distracting him from  
finishing his thesis for a Masters of Science in Architecture from  Cal Poly, SLO.  Other monkeys-on-his-back include contract event production for Red Bull, experimenting with multi-camera panoramic HD video, and the occasional game of Capoeira.

Credits
Breeze is a production of Belluard Bollwerk International (BBI) in Switzerland, carried out thanks to a contribution from the Canton of Fribourg and the support of Fondation Nestlé pour l'Art.

Comments

PC Magazine - 10 Robots to Rave About
Engadget ( http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/10/breeze-cause-robotic-trees-are-better/ )
We-Make-Money-Not-Art
NEWMEDIAWARDS 2006 - Robot Roundup
Robot Gossip 
SciFi.com

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