This project was created as part of a course exploring AI-driven interactive installations.
Using a live camera feed that detected the positions of visitors’ feet on the floor (x,y coordinates), we coded a Processing sketch that simulated the behavior of cockroaches: scattering, running, and escaping in response to movement.
The result was a reactive visual system where digital cockroaches “lived” in the installation space, creating a playful and slightly unsettling encounter between audience and algorithm.
Cockroaches are creatures that thrive in the periphery, scurrying away when humans appear.
We translated this behavior into a generative installation:
- Visitors walking in the space acted as disturbances.
- Their presence, tracked via x,y coordinates from a camera, pushed cockroaches away.
- The simulation became a living surface where human movement dictated insect behavior.
The work highlights the uncanny link between organic behavior, human presence, and algorithmic simulation.
- Language / Framework: Processing
- Libraries:
ddf.minimfor sound (looping cockroach scurry audio)- Custom
Animationclass for sprite-based cockroach visuals
- Behavioral Model:
- ~200 animated cockroaches
- Movement vectors updated per frame
- Avoidance force applied when within radius of visitor’s x,y position
- Screen-wrapping for continuous swarm presence
