In Singapore’s Changi Airport there is a sculpture in Terminal 1 made of bronze drops. Above the terminal, these drops fly in patterns, shapes and movements, all controlled by a set of servo motors and servo drives. Made by ART + COM, the system was designed to represent movement and flying, and also to recreate the old terminal artwork that was on display before the renovation in July of 2012. Watch the video below of the project and the display in action:
Servos are uniquely suited to kinetic artwork like this because they can keep position after running for years, meaning you don’t need someone to do routine maintenance on this art installation in the airport. There are no raindrops that just stop floating with the others because of a malfunction weeks after installation like many other kinetic works of art. On top of that, the motion control can control the movements in a way that makes it easier to program for tiny movements, like replicating a bird flying or undulating waves. Servos are highly sophisticated despite their simplicity of construction compared to more complex technologies.
Servo motors are everywhere. From painting using robotic arms or creating programming works of art to packaging up the world’s consumer goods, servo motors are an integral part of our daily lives, whether we give much thought to them or not. We think about servo motors all day, since that’s our business. But even manufacturers forget what forces make their companies run.
Our goal is to keep you from having to give too much thought to your servo motors — let us do all the work for you. Just give us a call when your Rexroth or Indramat motion control needs service.