Artist and computer scientist Marco Pinter has created a series of robotically controlled sculptures, which interact with on-screen and projected imagery to trick the mind into perceiving the existence of objects that are not physically present.

The sculptures are Heath Robinson-esque machines comprised of a number of different TV screens, projection screens and an array of weird and wonderful mechanical parts such as cogs, bones and pendulums.

He told Wired.co.uk that he is particularly interested in object permanence, or the acknowledgment that objects continue to exist when we don't see them. His work aims to question how much we can trust our perception. "I have a background in cognitive psychology and I am very interested in visual perception and illusion," he said.

The pieces feature on-screen animations which appear to move from one side of the screen to the other. A few seconds later they appear on a second screen travelling at the same speed and in the same direction, positioned about a foot away from the first one. The brain fills in the gap, allowing us to imaging the object has moved between the screens. The animation then leaps off the screen and appears to trigger a cog or similar moving part into action. The effect is that we imagine that this virtual agent is leaping between screens and triggering physical mechanisms. See the video embedded in this post to see the machines in action.

He designed the software using Processing and Max, creating a virtual stage in which the screens and the robotic mechanisms were placed. The program was linked to Arduino controllers to trigger the mechanisms at the right time. "In order for the illusion to work, I needed a very tight interaction between the motors and the graphics," he said.

The pieces are currently on a time loop, but Pinter plans to create pieces that interact with the viewer.

Pinter's pieces are currently being exhibited at the AC Institute in New York.