Telemetry, 2021

FESCH.TV INFORMIERT:

Telemetry, 2021
Plastic, metal, acrylic paint, motors, electronics
20”x20”x20”

In the last few years, it has become possible for anyone to daydream freely while floating in space. The private sectors of this world are rapidly ensuring that humanity will one day commonly work, research and most importantly, play in space. And yet, in this lifetime, due to the resources and cost of space travel, the vast majority of us will never experience the wonder of zero gravity. Most of us will only be able to imagine and see proxies of what it must feel like to lazily and without purpose float in space, as we did as children looking up at the endless stars. To that end, the robotic work Telemetry is intended to assist the imaginations of the Earth bound, giving them some agency in which to marvel at the frontier. The system will be designed to let us playback the recorded pitch, yaw and roll information of a weightless object, perhaps captured for us by a carefree astronaut as they twirl the object around during their holiday in orbit.

Telemetry is currently in the design and production stages, with an existing working prototype at 1/12 scale (shown in this video) that explores the motion of the machine design, but lacks data passing through each gimbal. The data is necessary to drive each gimbal’s motors (three total) to precise locations. Thus, the next stage is to include data networks passing through each axis in a ¼ scale prototype of Telemetry. With the goal of using that system to playback the telemetry of a neutrally buoyant object (a 1/12 scale Victorian era couch) submerged in water or captured during free fall in a reduced gravity aircraft. Once that milestone is achieved, Telemetry can be produced at full scale with the goal of slowly rotating, in all directions, a full size Victorian couch replica and hopefully allowing for audiences to wonder at the majesty of space and gravity.