Penis Cybernetique／チンボーグ

Penis Cybernétique (チンボーグ）draws inspiration from Open Prosthetics, a movement to make designs of prosthetics (which are currently mostly commercial and expensive) accessible and open source. It seems logical to think that the design of something so immediate – our body- could be accessible and modifiable by ourselves, but how will those designs evolve outside of science, medicine and military? How will the amateur culture manifest in the design of bodies, will we begin to see prosthetics designed for extremely personal uses, for comfort, obsession, crime, sleaze, curiosity and pleasure?

Penis Cybernétique is a process of myself, a 23 year old student, mixed Japanese/British, 173cm height, designing a prosthetic simply to fulfill my own curiosity: “What does it feel like to have an extra body part (in this case – penis) which reacts to my emotions?”

During the course of 2 weeks, a working motorised penis which moves up and down based on my heartrate was built, worn and tested. Will this new body part make myself act differently? Will I get a phantom limb afterwards? Will other people try my designs? What does it mean for an amateur to ‘open source her body?’

All resulting code and designs are made public and open.

Project Code

sourceforge.net/projects/chinborg/

Project Images

Penis Cybernetique: Flickr Set

Project presented & published at:

‘Objects of Desire from Japan’ by Agnes Giard, publisher: Glénat (FR) 2009
‘Cybernetic Love’ presentation at DMY Design Symposium, Berlin 2009
‘Cybernetic Love’ presentation at Pechakucha Berlin 2009
Sputniko!/Critical Design Lecture at Kyoto Zokei University of Arts, Japan 2009

Left: Excited User before product instantiation.     Right: Proudness.

Penis Cybernétique Mechanical Diagrams
The product was built with 2 mounted servo motors (Lynx B Pan & Tilt Kit)
which triggered  based on the heart rate information collected through Polar Heart Rater Monitor Interface.

Project source code available on sourceforge.net/projects/chinborg/
(Penis Cybernétique Electronics diagram uploaded soon)

Penis Cybernetique – version 0.2
Together with product designer and engineer Naoki Kawamoto, Sputniko! is designing a version 2 of Penis Cybernetique which uses Silicon Elastomer, making it flexible and light-weight with a more organic appearance.  Below are some designs of the outer silicon shape in development.