Clumsy Creatures
For this blog post I was inspired by Joyce den Hertog's "Clumsy Creatures" concept. The reason why I chose to write about this idea, is because I noticed that Joyce used a lot of examples of clumsy robots. Usually when I think of a robot, I think of it in a functional sense. A robot is often built on order to serve some kind of purpose to humanity. In this blog I'd like to think about whether a robot that is essentially clumsy, without doing something else in particular, could serve us a purpose as well.
Looking into clumsiness on a broader level
As I noticed that Joyce's exploration of clumsy creatures mainly covered robots and creatures that looked mechanical, I wanted to explore the concept of clumsiness outside of those boundaries. While searching for information about clumsiness, I mainly came accross videos of pets and people falling down or running into things or knocking over objects. These are typical "fail video" compilations. I have put some examples of the stuff I found below. (For both the first minute tells you enough about the content of the entire video ;) ).
Based on this information, I'd say that falling and bumping into stuff are essential characteristics of clumsiness.
The purpose of a clumsy creature...?
After looking to videos of clumsy people and animals, as well as Joyce's videos of robots falling over, I came to two conclusions of how clumsiness can have a purpose.
It is a form of enjoyment. (Unfortunately) Many of us laugh when we see someone or something fall over. Other people's suffering, especially clumsy falls, sometimes brings us joy.
Looking at the clumsiness of a creature could serve as a warning not to make the same mistake. A robot gliding and falling on a floor could serve as a warning for you that the floor is slippery and you should be careful when walking there.
The creation of a clumsy creature
I made some rough sketches of a clumsy creature. My idea is to create something which has several legs/feet, because that makes it easier to stumble over stuff. The creature is attracted to anything in its way and will fall once it bumps against it.
