Goal

With MOMO, our goal was to design a sculpture that will help get rid of the needless consumption that inhabits our daily lives. MOMO will not only help develop and encourage the growth of environmentally friendly habits within the users’ lives, but will also act as a living statement of durability and sustainability. Act as living proof that products can be created for more than just temporary consumption where they will eventually be thrown away and replaced.

How

Our intention was to create an inorganic form that feels like a real living organism, replicating just how easy environmental factors can influence how it behaves and lives. This organism can build relationships and connections with the users, reinforcing the idea that it is more than simply a kinetic sculpture. With MOMO, we hope that users will be influenced to make more sustainable choices in all aspects of their life, whether it is buying more reusable and durable products, or by making more environmentally conscious decisions in their day to day lives.

For example, say Tom usually spends his evening after work watching TV on the couch with only one light on, however today he has two lights on while watching TV. MOMO would move toward Tom in its panic state. Its movement and breathing pulse would be much faster than normal and eventually it will come to a complete stop, which we call we its ‘dying state’. In order to bring MOMO back to life, Tom has to turn off those extra lights or pet MOMO. Petting MOMO will resurrect him and it will turn off the lights in the room or dim them down to respectable levels for the situation if the user configures it.

Then MOMO can start breathing and moving normally.
With such functions, MOMO is not only able to communicate to the user about their usage of light, but the vulnerability associated with high energy usage. The natural but in-organic movement and its behavior for example, gives the sense of wear and tear. The more you use some mechanical objects over time, the slower and less responsive they become. The organic like breathing on the geometric crystalline shell, representing how much life there is to spare, taking its breath away as you move from natural resources to more artificial providers. This bridges the organic and inorganic effects on consumption into one seamless sculpture.

MOMO also communicates the related side effects. For example, over consumption can lead to panic and despair. By consuming more resources than we need, we expose ourselves to shortages and become vulnerable to our dependency on such external forces. However, if we lead a balanced sustainable life we can improve our lives and the lives of others around us. If we keep care of what we have, it will lead to more enjoyable lives. With MOMO promoting such ideals, we can help educate users on the benefits of maintaining a more sustainable lifestyle

Personal Contribution

My personal contribution varied per week of the development of MOMO. Initially starting out focusing on background research and the writing of our technical and conceptual documentation that provides reasoning to our design decisions that we were to make and have already made.

Throughout the rest I was primarily responsible for designing and building parts in Illustrator to have laser cut with MDF Wood or rapidly manufacture from foam, assembly and immediate evaluation the design. Throughout documenting the process through photo, video and notes online on our project website.