Warrior Object Trail

  • 2025

Junior Major was commissioned to design and deliver three digital installations for Terracotta Warriors: Legacy of the First Emperor. The Object Trail offers a tactile, surprising experience that invites visitors to uncover imagined treasures from Qin Shi Huang’s tomb. Using magnetic tokens visitors can find a Mercury Water System, Constellation of Pearls, Eternal Light (whale oil lamp), Crossbow Trigger and Arrow (Exploded View), a Jade Tree branch and a feather from a Golden Crane.

Warrior Object Trail, WAM, 2025
Object Trail, WAM, 2025

Technology

When a souvenir magnet is placed on an array of hall effect sensors an Arduino triggers a relay that changes Smart Glass from frosted to clear, revealing an object. LEDs in and around the objects are also controlled via the same state change.

A requirement of the hall effect sensors was that they must be flush with the fabrication to detect the magnets from underneath a printed graphic. This was achieved by encasing the sensors and PCB in resin using a 3D printed a mould. They were then flush mounted before applying the graphic.

Credits

  • Claire Evans, Business Director
  • Evan Davies, Technical Lead (Hardware)
  • Jarrod Lambert, Technical Coordinator
  • Producer, Joko Wang
  • René Christen , Technical Lead (Software)
  • Shunji Davies, Project Director
  • Sound Artist, Elena Matienko
  • Tobias Kappeler, Art Director
  • Tom Siddall, Creative Director