The Never Hungry Caterpillar

Pleasurable Troublemaker by Matthias Laschke & Marc Hassenzahl | 2011

The Caterpillar is an extension cable intended to engage its owner into a dialogue about wasting energy with devices in stand-by. The Caterpillar has three modes: It breathes slowly in the case of „normal“ energy consumption by a device, such as a TV. If the TV is switched to stand-by, the Caterpillar starts to twist awkwardly, as if in pain.

This can be resolved by disconnecting the TV. The Caterpillar falls asleep. It touches upon people’s tendency to take care of living things. Through its behaviour, it conveys an attitude towards the consumption of electricity and offers a simply remedy, as an act of helping.

The Caterpillar is part of the permanent collection of the Deutsche Museum, the world's largest museum of science and technology. Moreover it is part of the exhibition "energie.wenden".

See our scientific paper: http://issuu.com/hassenzahl/docs/create_transformational_products_cr The Caterpillar is an extension cable intended to engage its owner into a dialogue about wasting energy with devices in stand-by. The Caterpillar has three different modes: It breathes slowly in the case of „normal“ energy consumption by a device, such as a TV. If the TV is switched to stand-by, the Caterpillar starts to twist and turn awkwardly, as if in pain. This can be resolved by disconnecting the TV entirely. The Caterpillar touches upon people‘s tendency to help and take care of living things. Through its behaviour, the Caterpillar conveys an attitude towards the consumption of electricity –, the „pain“ implied by stand-by – and offers a simply remedy, framed as an act of helping.