Aug 30, 2025

Engineer tries art: Σi

View the 3D model here. View the sample interaction here.

Overview

Made of 3D Printed PLA, SG90 servo, NodeMCU, glue, photoresistor, resistors (voltage divider).

Σi is a four-dimensional art (3D space + time) that aimed to “unflatten” the 3D art. Just like going from 2D to 3D, the I wanted to add another dimension to the art. Not only is it time-based, but it also interacts with the surrounding (brightness) to add another layer of interaction between the art and the world.

This was created during May of 2025 in an attempt to avoid writing another six-page essay.

Meaning

I was tasked to create an art piece that represents "The Human Event." Human event is a small, discussion-based seminar course for first-year honors students at Barrett.

Each standing figures represent a participating individual. They're colored and shaped differently to represent a diverse background of ideas and perspectives. The gears represent how the ideas are "meshed" together, and the platform everything sits on is yellow to represent how ASU gathered all of us together. The i in Σi (title) represents these individuals and ideas.

Usually, these letter-humans go about their day in random positions. However, during Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12PM to 1:15PM, these letter-humans gather to form the word "Human."

This is when the class regularly meets. Then, these “letter-humans” gather to talk about their interests in a safe place. In addition, they also gather to secretively talk when the sun goes down and everyone else goes to sleep.
One of the readings in the class called "Looking-Glass Self" by Charles Cooley says,

The thing that moves us to pride or shame is not the mere mechanical reflection of ourselves, but an imputed sentiment, the imagined effect of this reflection upon another’s mind

Unpacking this tells us that freedom of thought cannot take place while we are under the society's constant surveillance.

When they meet, the left or right side of the art forms circular shapes. This is supposed to represent the circulation of ideas that take place during the discussion.

Beyond the shape and the behavior, the 3D printed and new technology used (multi-material printing) also sends a message as an unique medium for art. Like Marshall McLuhan says, “The Medium is the Message.”

Making the art (Long read, repeated info)

As someone in a STEM career, art is not something we are usually tasked to deal with (let alone create). I do believe art is usually easier than engineering because the final output does not have to make sense to anybody else, as long as it holds "appears" special to the creator. Then it's up to the viewers to actually understand the art, or pretend to understand it at least. This is where art gets another layer of subjectivity, because the creative process isn't complete until an observer comes to consume the art.

I mainly got this idea (that art is easy) from a close friend who is pursuing her career in an art-related discipline. She tells me that she can get away with special projects/homework (especially in non-art classes) fairly easily because she can just work her little art magic and she passes with flying colors with many applauds. I'm assuming this is may be the case because rating her art poorly may come off as looking down on her culture or heritage, or herself and her personality, not her skills. (Plus, there is no "wrong" in art)

I wanted to see if I can take leverage of this in a similar manner. How can I create something that does not require too much skill, but directly reflect my personality/creativity such that poor reactions to the creation may appear offensive?

That's how "Σi" was born. From the start, it was engineered with the purpose of:

Proving myself that art can get away with things easily
Proving that academic skills does not translate to better art
Test my creativity

Now, this didn't mean I would create something simple and rudimentary to get away with a certain assignment. But rather, I wanted to see how art is generally an easier, safer path than something that requires real academical work (like an essay where I will be graded on the quality of thesis, organization, sources used, etc.).

I started by deciding what meanings I wanted to pack in the art. It was my first time trying art, so I wasn't really sure what the first step should've been. In engineering, however, first step of any project is to define the problem (define objective). The specific assignment I was working on told me to "Visualize Human Event" (first-year seminar classes for Barrett Honors students). I thought, let's just make the word "Human" out of little humans, can't be more direct than that. Then I realized this was missing a wow factor. it was too simple and direct, because it would be a mere plastic piece and anybody could think I didn't put much thought into it.

Word "Human" made of small figure humans

(I think) the reason why art is so powerful in non-art classes is because they both believe the other side is a difficult, foreign discipline. Sprinkle some engineering magic in an art, and suddenly the art community may find it highly sophisticated. The target grader had a strong background in biology and philosophy, so I had to throw something that would feel unfamiliar, therefore it can't be looked down very easily.

If you asked a mechanical / electrical / robotics engineering students

"How difficult would it be to replicate my art?"

They would probably say it's a 20-minute job from CAD to code. They can say that because they know it's a very simple task. My goal was to wrap that simple task with fancy words and packaging to impress someone who couldn't easily tell.

So, I decided to make it move. Throw in some gears and motors, and suddenly all the art majors are overwhelmed (Obviously, an exaggeration)

Now, this needed a base to contain it all. I thought about making it transparent so all the internal workings are visible, but I was worried it contained too few parts to be successfully show off anything. So, I picked whatever I had which turned out to be yellow. Luckily, my college loves yellow.

I still felt like I could do more. Clearly, everyone's seen a 3D printed object at least once in a lifetime. Therefore, I decided to use my AMS system (Automatic Material System) to add some multi-color magic to the printed parts. Consumer multi-color 3D printing is a relatively new technology in the field, and the market basically started when Bambu Lab basically introduced their AMS system with their X1 series printers (2022). This would be another good wow factor. However, I didn't really design this to be multi-color friendly and it ended up generating a huge purge waste at the end.