THE EIGHTH DAY

A TRANSGENIC NET INSTALLATION

A biobot is a robot with an active biological element within its body which is responsible for its behavior. The biobot created for "The Eighth Day" has a colony of GFP amoeba called as its "brain cells".

These "brain cells" form a network within a bioreactor that constitutes the "brain structure" of the biobot. When amoebas divide the biobot exhibits dynamic behavior inside the enclosed environment. Changes in the amoebal colony (the "brain cells") of the biobot are monitored by it, and cause it to slowly go up and down, or to move about, throughout the exhibition.

Ascending and descending motion becomes a visual sign of increase (ascent) and decrease (descent) of amoebal activity. The biobot also functions as the avatar of Web participants inside the environment. Web participants are able to control its audiovisual system with a pan-tilt actuator.