Articulated metal sculpture co-designed/built, as mentor support, for a Waldorf School student’s end-of-term project. “Flower” opens at dawn to collect solar energy via photovoltaic panels on “petals”. At dusk, flower closes again by retracting petals into “stem”. A storage battery and controlling electronic logic were placed in the base of the sculpture. The storage battery provides sufficient capacity to open flower again with morning light. Petals are pneumatically actuated, driven by blood pressure pumps. A photo-sensor provides luminosity information to control electronics to determine flower’s open or closed state.
Powered fully by the sun, measures one meter tall, 2011
