The idea for this project came gradually. After compiling bags of random objects from Pittsburgh's Center for Creative Reuse, Joe and I were initially drawn to the discarded doll parts. Originally, we wanted to work with the doll head as it captured the "creepy" factor we were going for, but the idea of a physical interaction with the automaton came up in the form of a high-five. Additionally, the idea of a creepy doll head seemed overused at the time so we decided against it. Thus, we ran with the high-five idea - utilizing multiple hands and arms to create a machine that started with a simple high-five.
Regarding our respective roles in this project, I worked on a lot of the hardware + crafty end of things while Joe contributed a lot to the coding of the project as he had some prior experience with Arduino. The idea and design for this project was pretty much an equally collaborative aspect as we finalized decisions through conversations we had together.
In order to interact with our automaton, aptly named "Handy Warhol", a user must initiate a high-five with it, which then triggers the machine to high-five itself and generate noise.
