This is a page dedicated to the work of the late cybernetic sculptor Edward Ihnatowicz including his most famous work The Senster

Biography of the artist

Cybernetic Sculpture: "SAM" - Sound Activated Mobile

Cybernetic Sculpture:"The Senster"

Cybernetic Sculpture: "The Bandit"

Graphical work (under construction)

Articles by Edward Ihnatowicz

Articles about Edward Ihnatowicz

Links

Webcast of a talk about Ihnatowicz's work (starting at 39mins into the webcast)

Edward Ihnatowicz was a Cybernetic Sculptor active in the late 1960's and early 1970's. His ground-breaking sculptures explored the interaction between his robotic works and the audience, and reached their height with The Senster, a large (15 feet long), hydraulic robot commissioned by the electronics giant, Philips, for their permanent showplace, the Evoluon, in Eindhoven in 1970. The sculpture used sound and movement sensors to react to the behaviour of the visitors. It was one of the first computer controlled interactive robotic works of art.

When I was a kid, I read a short description of the Senster and it really fired my imagination. I was already interested in robots and how people react to them, but it gave me the push to go on to study robotics at university and I finished a PhD in the area of mechatronics in medicine (if you are interested, have a look at my homepage). This page is my attempt to thank him (if only posthumously), and to provide a central, comprehensive, resource about Ed and his ground-breaking work. I have been piecing together bits of information from various sources and am very grateful to all the contributors who have helped me.

If you have any relevant information that is not here (pictures, articles, links, etc.) please email me.

Aleksandar (Alex) Zivanovic (Editor of this site)

News!

October 2018: The remains of the Senster have been acquired by AGH Krakow, Poland and a team there has restored it to working order. Read more about this amazing achievement.