Time lapse filmstrip of the Totem-mobile, a full scale transforming abstraction of the iconic Citroën DS19. The inflatable spire climbs and contracts, folding automatically into the car’s hood (second image).

Citroën C4 Showroom, Champs-Élysées, Paris

Site specific installation at the Citroën showroom, the robot was designed to explode 20 meters vertically through the center of the space. 26 independent actuators, 3 massive chain drive telescopes, lights, and laser safety fence.

Process

Below: Initial sketches and Solidworks model of articulating car assembly. Layout, fabrication, and motion control was planned in house by the Amorphic team. The telescoping segments are aligned and timed with secondary mechanisms, and torque driven motor control feedback ensures that tons of metal will travel upward safely, in a straight vertical line.

Below: Plywood armature for sheet metal construction and car body in process. Sheetmetal, structural components and mechatronics were developed and fabricated in parallel, then combined to test the main vertical drive system.

Above: Car internal frame, load bearing linear actuators and vertical drive test. The artist, Chico MacMurtrie is on the left, with our lead engineer, handiman, and sheet metal fabricator on the right.
Below: Side window and trunk secondary mechanisms. Acuators, linkages and wire chasing must fit within the frames carrying the sheetmetal skin.