Explorator chipper

The Explorator chipper species (common name Chipper) consists of a woodpecker-inspired design that mimics the sounds produced by their destructive pecking through an artificial beak that it uses to destroy a plywood disk mounted to its body. After each pecking session conducted by the solenoid-chisel striking mechanism, the wooden disk partly rotates using a DC motor to reveal a fresh section of wood.

Chipper test installations from left to right: installed within the Sima Joshua tree forest (which is recovering from a fire four months prior), at Royal Gorge in the High Sierra Nevada Mountains, and at a private residence within Grass Valley, California.

Chipper invites us to reflect on the information about environmental activity contained within the individual sonic events that comprise the sonic environment. Motivated by the constant pecking of the omnipresent Dryocopus pileatus, commonly known as the pileated woodpecker, Chipper is specifically focused on the destruction that some sounds signify. To grant the artifact the illusion of agency within installations, Chipper triggers its pecking mechanism according to ambient lighting, humidity, and temperature. To ensure its activities are heard to best express its message of destruction, Chipper also pecks when the sonic environment is perceived to be quiet.

Woodpecking Mechanism

From left to right close ups of the wooden turn-table and ceramic pecking components of the woodpecking mechanism

The woodpecker mechanism consists of two components: the solenoid pecking actuator, and the DC motor actuated spinning wooden disk. A small ceramic cutting blade is attached to a screw using a 3D printed coupler that is then screwed into the tubular solenoid plunger's bottom. The ceramic blade provide a more organic sound than the metal chisels used in early prototypes. The blade is positioned above the outside parameter of a 100 mm wooden disk. The wooden disk is attached to a turntable and spun using a DC motor. As can be seen within the test footage at , while the pecking mechanism does damage the plywood disk the mechanisms destructive capability is not optimal. Future iterations will address this concern by experimenting with softer woods and a more powerful, perhaps mechanically aided, solenoid.

Body and Enclosure

Comparison between the internals of the Chirper and Chipper species.

While the PVC pipe enclosure utilized in chirper species (designed before the chipper) proved environmentally resistant and robust due to discontent over the aesthetics of the Curper’s design and in an attempt to reveal the species internal electronics as a means to exaggerate the juxtaposition between the mechatronic artifact and the natural environment, the electronics are protected using a laser-cut stacked acrylic enclosure which "caps" a 100 mm clear acrylic pipe. A 3D rendering showing the difference in internal arrangement between these species can be seen above.

By reducing the body size, body thickness, and replacing the M12 bolt and t-nut leg configuration with a much quicker to adjust and lighter 10 millimeter stainless-steel rod held in position through friction clamps attached to the body, the Chipper served easier to install and transport. However, the stacked acrylic enclosure did experience some leakage within the battery component on one occasion when the artifact was left installed for several days through a rainstorm which dropped over 200 mm of rain in January, 2021. While this event produced no damage to the electronic components, future designs will need to address this problem.