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Beating Heart

Cover image

I’ve been toying around the idea of technological mediation in sculpture. I love craft and object making, but I want to bring the objects to life and react to the world. I have a motif of making hearts out of different media: sewing, plaster, clay, so I decided to work with a familiar object while exploring new techniques. I decided to try sewing another heart, this time with felt and electronics.

Recently, I purchased a 45-in-One Sensor Kit for Arduino. I’ve been having fun playing around with the different sensors and wanted to make a reactive heart. I tried a few ideas of how to make an interactive sculpture, and settled on using a servo motor to make it beat. I used a knockoff DS18B20 Temperature Sensor to activate the servo.

The result is a felt heart plushie that beats when held.