Dancer-in-a-Box

Dancer-in-a-Box is a project to create a self-propelled cardboard box without an external drive system such as a wheel or propeller. Since the dawn of time, humans have used a box as a static object to store and transport everyday things easily. Therefore, we begin to seek a new usage of the box as an active and dynamic object. Based on this concept, we developed a self-rolling robotic cube which can be installed in a cardboard box. Also, this research created several applications using our robotic cube for entertainment purposes. Our cubic frame is broadly used for entertainment purposes. At present, we have created some gadgets and games using this box (e.g. A self-moving toy box, a boxing game between two boxes, a controllable dice, etc.). In other words, our cubic frame makes it possible to change every object called a box into a Jack-in-a-Box. We are planning to improve our prototype so that it will be able to transport a large and heavy object. We also think our prototype could be used in an advertisement or for amusement purposes as a kinetic display by using it with a typical projection mapping method.

Yuichiro Katsumoto
Keio-NUS CUTE Center