Animal Sense Devices Are Fun, Educational?

“Work In Progress” is a project that is “In Progress” I guess over at the Royal College of Art in London.  The three pieces that were unveiled by a team of Masters degree students are based around the goal of allowing children to perceive the world in new and exciting ways.  These devices are called The Bird, The Giraffe, and The Ant.  The Giraffe basically allows the child to see the world through the eyes of an adult.  I’m not really sure what The Bird does, but it’s supposed to let the child have some sort of weird sensory perception that we’re not supposed to have naturally.  The Ant simulates the way an ant sees the world.  It features small cameras in the hand boxes, and it sends the images to the torture mask display helmet, thusly giving the child an ant’s eye view of the world.  I tried to give some of the local kids trying out The Ant a more realistic experience by spraying them with bug killer.  Although they may have cried a lot and thrown up in the mask, I think they’ll thank me in the future for allowing them to really understand what it is like to be an ant.