overview

trundle v1.2
anatomy
images
behavior
interaction
movement

trundle v1.1
anatomy
images
behavior

trundle v1.0
anatomy
images

        Using social language to describe the movement and interaction with Trundle, it can be said that Trundle seeks attention, but is shy. It changes its mood over time as a function of the amount of attention is receives. Mood is communicated through posture and quality of movement. When Trundles is first activated, its basic behavior is to seek out stimulus. This is achieved through slowly moving laterally along its track and scanning its sonars across the space. It first pans left to right with its sonars and when it reaches the end of this check, it moves laterally for one second and then begins to sweep the environment once more. When the sculpture reaches the end of the track, it turns around and comes back. When it receives a stimulus through its sonar, it quickly jerks away, pauses, and begins to move leisurely once again.
        In addition to a series of simple reflexes, the activity of Trundle is dominated by a number of absolute actions. These are analogous to the fixed action patterns found in many animals. For example, when Trundle is touched, it will quickly jerk away and collapse into its neutral state. It sets all of its excitation variables to neutral and slowly begins to expand the reach of its sensors, starting at the top and moving its way to the bottom of the sculpture.
        Trundle adapts its behavior over time by changing internal state variables which affect how the sculpture senses and moves. For example, if Trundle is constantly registering stimulus in its sonar, it can begin to look for signals at a closer range. This will either cause people to come closer or allow it to ignore a large object brought into its vision. Trundle will also have a concept of affect. Through continual interaction with the sculpture, it may become excited and change the quality of its movements to become increasingly rapid and short. If the sculpture suffers from neglect, it will slow its movement down and occasionally lash out by thrashing itself. The behavior of Trundle is implemented in C code as a series of finite state machines. The original plan for the behavior architecture is outlined in the diagram at the top of the page.