Last
Chance
to See
Capsule
Machine

(Bat Edition)

About The Project

Last Chance to See Capsule Machine is a capsule toy machine that accurately represents the population changes of endangered species. The likelihood of you receiving a specific bat is directly tied to how many of them still exist in the world. This toy machine is part art-piece, part educational experience that strives to engage with people in a playful way while introducing concepts around scarcity and the importance of biodiversity and conservation.

You don’t know exactly which species you’re going to receive out of the machine and once the animal is gone you won’t be able to collect it anymore.

Some of the bats in the machine are infected white-nose syndrome (WNS), caused by the fungal pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans, a disease that has decimated North-American bat populations for the past 10 years. The amount of infected bats in the machine is derived from the estimated percentage of the species' total population that has been effected by the disease.

The population data and infection rates of WNS are derived from the North American Bat Monitoring Program.

How it's Made

The machine was 3D designed in Solidworks referencing existing gumball and gashapon machine designs to ensure the mechanics would function properly.

The machine was 3D printed in ASA plastic using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology.

The machine consists of a database running on a Raspberry Pi that uses UHF RFID scanning technology to record the capsule toys as they enter and exit the machine. Video animations are triggered on the machine showing information about which bat species you received.

The bats were designed and painted in ZBrush, then were 3D printed in color using Multi-Jet Fusion (MJF) technology.

The infected bats were flocked in white rayon fibers to mimic the white fibrous appearance of white-nose syndrome.