Remote controlled chopstick ‘Claw’ game
Date: 2005
This project has been hidden away on Dominic’s laptop for 4 years until now.
This was the final project at the partnership mosleymeetswilcox which finished at the end of 2005 before Dominic went solo. It was a creation for London’s V&A Village Fete where designers are invited to have a stall in which they can entertain the public with games or sell interesting things for a pound or so.
The idea for this piece came from thinking about the local amusement arcades which had the famous ‘crane’ or ‘claw’ game. Typically the player controls a metal claw pressing buttons then when over a toy that is wanted the ‘grab’ button is pressed and the claw drops and usually doesn’t pick up the toy. So you try again….
For this version, instead of a mechanical claw, a human hand holding chopsticks is used. The player controls the human hand with buttons left, right, back, forward and grab. When the buttons were pressed a little light in the back told the hidden chopstickholder which direction to move their hand.
Dominic said ‘I did the first half hour in the box holding the chopsticks but my technique was bad and my hand tired quickly. I remember at the end I dropped a toy after picking it up and heard the woman say ‘oh, hasn’t he got weak wrists.’ Luckily I had found a japanese girl who was excellent and she did the next 7 hours.’