Multimedia artists Matt Ganucheau and Kyle Machulis have designed a female mannequin that uses strategically placed sensors to control audio playback. The mannequin, affectionately named Moaning Lisa, was unveiled at the recent <cnet:link externalURL="http://www.monochrom.at/arse-elektronika/about.html">Arse Elektronika</cnet:link> conference, as part of a showcase of emerging erotic-based technology. The following gallery includes images that may not be suitable for young viewers.
It's amazing what you can find on Craigslist. Matt and Kyle obtained the Lisa mannequin for under $100 based on a Craigslist want ad for a giant-breasted mannequin.
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To mount a touch-plate sensor on Lisa's neck, Matt had to get a little physical. A hole in the back of Lisa's head was necessary for Matt to install motion sensors for eyes.
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Lisa's lower half has three sensors--two in the back (stars), and one in the front. Unlike the other sensors, Matt and Kyle chose to make the front sensor act as a nonlinear playhead marker within the Max/MSP software environment, allowing for Lisa's audio output to be scrubbed and scratched like a digital turntable.
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With sensors in both the upper and lower halves of Lisa, running wires to the Make controller hardware gets a little tricky.
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For the sake of convenience, Lisa's brains are located in her chest. The Make controller hardware routes eight sensors and a USB port through the mannequin.
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Matt demonstrates Lisa's "chest" controls for our cameraman. Each knob controls which set of the over 200 moans in Lisa's library become activated.
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Constructing your own foreplay robot may seem like a lot of work, but the real genius is programming the software. Matt's Max/MSP Moaning Lisa patch took over a year to develop and uses neural networking algorithms to make Lisa's interaction as nuanced and unpredictable as Matt's real life experiences.
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Motion sensors installed in Lisa's eyes allow her to detect nearby movement. When no motion is detected, Lisa has a tendency to take a nap.
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Lisa's hardware communicates to Matt's computer using a USB connection near her ankle. Because the Make controller inside Lisa is in open-source development, Matt and Kyle will use this USB connection to upgrade her firmware down the road.
