Choreography of 100

This CS+X Project “choreography of 100,” organizes the movement of 100 autonomous brooms which are tasked with cleaning their polluted environment. The team led by Kimberly Blacutt and Audrey Reiley uses industrial design and physical computing skills for this project, which means physically creating the brooms, wiring them to arduinos, programming their choreographed responses to data input from camera sensors, and vibe-coding with the help of ClaudeAI.

This project draws inspiration from long days indoors, surrounded by screens and artificial light, leaving us longing for a nostalgic sense of the natural world. To address this, our project brings elements of the outdoors into indoor spaces through a dynamic, and interactive art installation. By combining acoustic and visual experiences, we explore how natural sounds and patterns can create a feeling of immersion and reconnect us with the environment. Our focus is on scaling up modular elements— experimenting with their materials, structures, and sounds, to create a motion-driven system that consists of 100 coordinated modular components. Our goal is to understand how the quantity and scale of these elements enhance their visual and acoustic effects. Drawing inspiration from biomimicry and the environmental conditions of Pittsburgh, such as wind and air quality, we will incorporate local data to craft a responsive and sensory experience.

The project involves iterative experimentation with grid structures, examining various types of motions, including up-and-down, directional, and on/off dynamics. The final outcome will be an immersive, sensor-driven public art installation designed to engage the Carnegie Mellon University community and beyond. Our interdisciplinary team—Zoe, Audrey, Nik, and Kim—combines expertise in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Architecture, and Landscape Architecture. Together, we share a passion for nature-inspired experiences and strive to create an installation that reimagines the relationship between people, sound, motion, and the natural world.

The full team consists of Kimberly Blacutt (Design ’25), Audrey Reiley (Design ’25), Zoe So (HCII ’25), Michael Juan (Design ’25), Nik Kim (Architecture ’25).