System
Overview
Echolibrium asks whether quantitative analysis through machine intelligence can reveal the power dynamics between two people in conversation — and whether a machine’s “objective” read of a conversation could ever be a tool for justice rather than authority.
It is an intelligent aid for finding balanced, healthier conversations: a physical, legible mirror held up to how we share — or seize — the floor. The form takes after Alexander Calder’s kinetic machine aesthetics.
How it works
Two speakers talk; speech-to-text transcribes each in real time and the system compares their word counts as a proxy for who holds the floor. An Arduino drives motors on a hanging mobile of acrylic bells strung on fishing line, tipping the “axis of conversation” toward imbalance — or letting it settle back toward equilibrium as the exchange evens out.
Build
Lessons
Early trials produced unexpected flips of the mobile; the build sharpened hard-won lessons in electronics management, weight-and-balance for hanging elements, and time management.