Algorithmic Gardening

    • Shannon McMullen, Fabian Winkler
    • United States
    • 2018
    • Installation, Digital
    • World Premiere
    • DocLab Humanoid Cookbook, IDFA DocLab Spotlight, DocLab Program

    Food cultivation is fundamental to human society and technological development. This multimedia installation looks at the possible next steps. Can a robot distinguish between weeds and nutritional plants? And how do you go about coding an algorithm that gives each plant what it needs?

    Algorithmic Gardening presents a trio of experiments involving the soybean. Soy is a big subject in discussions about our food chain: there’s controversy about genetic modification, but soy could also contribute to solving the worsening problem of food scarcity. Algorithmic gardeners play a part in every step on the journey from bean to garden to plate. The beans grow in “soybots,” mobile mini-gardens that maneuver their way around the space in search of a perfectly sunny spot to grow. Weeds are meticulously removed by a Taurus robot, whose algorithm-driven robot arms were first developed to defuse bombs. The resulting soy snacks literally roll off the conveyor belt. Is this our culinary future? 

    Credits

    • DCP
    • Spoken languages: No dialogue
    Director
    Shannon McMullen, Fabian Winkler
    Production
    Shannon McMullen, Fabian Winkler
    Screening copy
    Fabian Winkler

    IDFA history

    2018
    World Premiere
    DocLab Humanoid Cookbook
    IDFA DocLab Spotlight
    DocLab Program

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    IDFA history

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