Magnus Würzer of RoboExotica and Shifz fame has taken this video in my very own kitchen. It is of our Intern’s marshammlow roasting robot, a fine tetrix-based contraption that results in burned sugar par excellance:
See more awesome like this at this year’s RoboGames, oh boy that’s a lot of robots.
You know, I really could never dance for another. . .
A bit o’ background from IsraeliGuitar (on youtube)
I Wanted for a long time to upload a video of me improvising with my guitar and the Kaossilator.
Everything I did was very boring as the loop in the Kaossilator is quite short. You can’t really play any chord progressions, only the same chord over and over and over and over.
I tried to think of a song that has a single chord and found Groove is in the heart. It’s the same chord and the same bass line all through the song.
It wasn’t easy making 7 minutes of the same chord not boring or anoying, but I think I did a good job.
[Thanks @KOduckgirl]
Dude.
I mean, wow.
The website pretty much says it all:
On March 24 from 1-5 PM EST hadto.net and FutureFarmers will be conducting a workshop called Human Powered Chatbot as part of the Reverse Ark at Baltimore Contemporary.
20 people will cooperate in a system of abstraction through simple rules to create a writing machine that will be connected to the internet via the Twitter and New York Times APIs
If you are interested in conversing with the Human Powered Chatbot you can follow it at http://twitter.com/human_bot on March 24 from 1-5 PM EST
During this time you can reply to ‘human_bot’ on twitter and it will respond to your messages.
[Thanks Bruce Sterling!]
. . and now you too can have a Bar2D2 of your very own! Jamie Price, mentioned in this space before, has been ever so kind to put up an Instructable on how to make your very own Bar2D2!
Jamie also demonstrates the axiom that you don;t necessarily need to get all fancy with the education to build something completely extraordinary:
Just a quick note about me - I am a regular DIY’r and don’t have any formal robotics, electronics, or mechanical training. I have picked up most of my skills from various hobbies and projects, as well as my father who is a skilled woodworker. If you have a basic knowledge of woodworking and working with low voltage power, then you can build a mobile bar! Enjoy!
So back a couple days ago I mentioned I-Wei Huang, who is still cooler than you and sheds mechanical ninja-fu like some people shed viruses. Well, he’s shown up again, saving me from actually having to look for something good to post:
Embrace the Crab-Fu, people.
For those of you who can’t make tomorrow night’s show of kinetic art, we have a sneak preview. This centipede was made by that virtuoso of aluminum Nemo Gould, whom we have several kinds of crushes on over here at SB*. If those kind of look like bundt pans and bike brake levers, you are exactly right, Sir or Madam!
*[SB adds: Seriously, you have no idea]
So the Rotor was just over at the Seemen Development Labs and managed to get an exclusive spy photo of the latest alcohol delivery unit under construction by Artistic Director Kal Spelletich. This gadget walks gripper-over-gripper along an overhead wire, and carries a payload of an electrically-valved bottle of Jameson, as well as some cameras and video monitors allowing you to see the world through the robot’s eyes. Too early in the development cycle to even have a name yet, you can see it in action at Roböxotica, the International Festival of Cocktail Robotics, should you happen to be in Vienna the week after Thanksgiving.
The Rotor will be there, hopefully with Chassis in tow. See you in Wien, prost!
Um, Mr. Robotics, we found your eye.
It’s perhaps a little too close to Arse Elektronika to post this particular and literally juicy item¹, but here’s a robotic hand made out of cucumbers:
¹ You folks have filthy minds which is why we love you
The Artbots 2008 Robot Talent Show is this weekend, in Dublin, Ireland (whoo international art stars!).
The show features 15 works by 16 artists from 9 countries, as well as performances, workshops, lectures, and an awards ceremony. Participating works were selected from an international open call for “robotic art and art-making robots”, and represent a broad and inclusive cross-section of the tremendous range of creative art and robotics activity.
The ArtBots 2008 Dublin participants are: Paula Matthusen (USA), Leo Peschta (Austria), Koichiro Mori (Japan), Matt Denton (UK), Yuliya Lanina (Russia/USA), Che-Wei Wang & Kristin O’Friel (Japan/USA), Matthew Gardiner (Australia), Ralf Baecker (Germany), Byeong Sam Jeon (Korea/USA), Peter Redmond (Ireland), Allison Kudla (USA), Jack Pavlik (USA), Joan Healy (Ireland), Christopher Kaczmarek (USA), and Riley Harmon (USA).
Sound artist Ray Lee (UK) will celebrate the opening of the show on Friday with two presentations of “Forcefield”, a kinetic sound machine performance. Metal fabricator/artisan Phillip Isohe (Kenya) has created this year’s Robots’ Choice Award, and designer Eliza Gauger (USA) created the 2008 ArtBots t-shirt design. During the show members of the EU funded Living with Robots and Interactive Companions project will lead discussions with the artists and audience members.
Douglas Repetto, one of the curators, is an old SB pal, so when he is rich and famous we say we knew him when. We will also be able to wave at him from the police barricades when he gets out of the limo for those red carpeted events and he may even *glance our way*
The show looks completely awesome with some really exceptional pieces and interesting-sounding panels (for example, “Are we living in a Robotic Cargo Cult?” which question of course wonder about every day).
So, if you are in the Dublin area, grab a pint and head down to Artbots 2008, we wish we could be there!
It’s getting gently hectic here in The Uncanny Valley, what with us heading off for points south for MakerFaire Austin, but here is a neat thing that appeared in my inbox this morning:
It is a giant mechanical flower that opens and closes at dawn and dusk, made by students at the University Of Buenos Aires in Argentina.
So if wiggling ICE-powered donkey’s weren’t bad enough, Boston Dymanics now gives us robotic spidermen. Well, spiderbugs… (is that redundant?)
RiSE is a small six-legged robot that climbs vertical terrain such as walls, trees and fences. RiSE’s feet have claws, micro-claws or sticky material, depending on the climbing surface. RiSE changes posture to conform to the curvature of the climbing surface and a fixed tail helps RiSE balance on steep ascents. RiSE is about 0.25 m long, weighs 2 kg, and travels 0.3 m/s.
Each of RiSE’s six legs is powered by two electric motors. An onboard computer controls leg motion, manages communications, and services a variety of sensors. The sensors include an inertial measurement unit, joint position sensors for each leg, leg strain sensors and foot contact sensors.
Future versions of RiSE will use dry adhesion to climb sheer vertical surfaces such as glass and metal. Boston Dynamics is developing RiSE in conjunction with researchers at University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon, Berkeley, Stanford, and Lewis and Clark University. RiSE is funded by the DARPA Defense Sciences Office.
All those beautiful, beautiful visions spinning about in your head have been made into gorgeous alcoholic reality. Ladies and gentlemen, Bar2D2:
Bar2D2 is capable of making your basic cocktails, and also incorporates a beer elevator to put a frosty brew into your hands upon request. The beer elevator is the business bits of a Harbor Freight electric caulking gun.
The base is a electric power chair, and he can schmooze with the cocktail crowd with his extensive R2D2 vocabulary, courtesy an R2D2 voice module and a Team Delta RCE210 relay board.
The beer elevator is enclosed by a spiffy polycarbonate cocoon, and the ice bucket lights up.
How prosh can a cocktail-slinging robot get??
Jamie Price, the builder, has a great set of photos of his progress here.
Bar2D2 has been a scant five months in the making, by a guy who has a day job and everything. Jamie credits stick-to-itiveness and BAD (Beer Aided Design) for his success.
Here’s his parts list:
My goal:
Create an rc bot that is loosely (very) modeled after R2D2 for the sole purpose of being a mobile bar/entertainment center.Features:
Clear lexan dome that houses a 6 liquor bottle carousel
Cups that have LED color shift (damn I love ebay)
Motorized Ice bin (remotely actuated)
Beer dispensing elevator (remotely actuated)
Neon, LED lighting accents
Motorized drivetrain
R2D2 sound effects
12 volt sla powered with on board ac/dc wall converter for long party times
2 victor 883 escs
futaba 6 channel radio
materials: metal, 3/4″ finish grade ply, sintra, lexan, chrome, plastic
If all goes well (and it has been!) Bar2D2 will be accepting his public and signing autographs at DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia, August 29-September 1st (that’s next weekend campers!).
We’re also hoping Bar2D2 makes it to Vienna for RoboExotica this year.
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