WATCH: A Man is Controlling a Robot Using His Butthole

By Ammar Haziq  •  03 Mar 2020 in Design

Thirsty for JUICE content? Quench your cravings on our Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp

No, it is not for science, it’s for art. As reported by Vice, an artist from the Netherlands claims he can control a robot using the muscles inside of his butt, and there’s a video to prove it.

As stated on their website, “B‒hind offers a unique Internet of Things (IoT) solution to fully integrate your sphincter muscle in everyday living. The revolutionary anal electrode-powered interface system replaces conventional hand and voice-based device interaction and enables advanced digital control rooted in the interiors of your body.”

The performance was collaboration between art organization V2_, the Lab for the Unstable Media in Rotterdam and performance artist Dani Ploeger. In4Art artists were challenged to reenact the previous V2_ works, but with their own twist.

Ploeger’s B-Hind is the first and so far, the only piece in that series. His work was inspired from 1994 performance art by Stelarc, an artist whose work mostly centered around the idea that human bodies are obsolete.

In one of his works titled Amplied Body, Stelarc hooked himself up with industrial medical robots and other hardware, which he controlled using electrical impulses from his muscles. Unlike Ploeger’s work, his butt wasn’t involved although wires seem to be going in and out of every other orifice of his body (see pic below).

According to Ploeger’s page, he hacked an anal electrode probe device called Anuform that’s typically used “to stimulate your anal sphincter muscles and pelvic floor muscles, making them stronger, or to find out if you’re contracting your muscles the way you should”, according to the product’s website.

It follows the contractions of his sphincter muscles and translates them to control a small, consumer robot called Keecker. Yes, it’s commercially available if you plan to get one for yourself, both the anal probe and the robot.

Here’s the video of Ploeger at the event’s opening night, explaining how the B-hind interface work, along with a video and sound of his anal canal and intestines onto the walls of the gallery.

Ploeger’s piece from 2011 called Electrode, uses the same anal probe to make music.

The reaction of his work was described as “diverse”. Some people felt disgusted, while others were excited to try the experiment for themselves.

Get some JUICE.