World Scanner was my final project for The Fine Art of Physical Computing. The project parameters were simply to create an artistic work using the Arduino platform. At the time I was immersed in projective geometry for my advanced work in mathematics, and I was curious to see if I could create isometric projections of my environment through something akin to an outward-facing flatbed scanner. The World Scanner consisted of a cart with a live-feed camera, recording pixels or video frames based on the rotation of the cart’s wheel. The effect was to “scan” surroundings based on distance traveled, eliminating perspective in the horizontal dimension when traveling linearly. It became apparent, however, that non-linear travel generated more interesting reinterpretations of surroundings. The end of this video shows an experiment recording video frames per linear travel, creating an effect of continuous, steady motion while time accelerates and slows proportional to the cart’s traveling speed.
Left: Environments around Bennington College
Right: World Scanner scans of each environment