Nails in Doar’s wheel move toward the line of pennies that will cause the solenoids’ to convulse and create dinosaur-like tracks in the sand.
Photo: Rachel Metz
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Vida 9.0 and Artbot Gent
Robot maniacs and fans of artificial intelligence, rejoice! The list of the winners of Vida 9.0, Art & Artificial Life International Competition is online (congratualtion to Andy.) So is the casting of the upcoming Artbot, it will be held in Gent on December 2 and 3. And if you’re in the neighbourhood join us at Art+Game, a series of conferences, screenings, performances and exhibitions about game culture in Brussels, Dec. 1-4.
The images above show a work by US/ Taiwan artist Shih Chieh Huang, EX-DD-06. Prefabricated electronics are stripped down and then recombined in a way which is at once familiar, and alienated by a playful recontextualisation where they are made to interact with one another, and with the spectators.
For example, by linking an automatic light switch to video footage of the artist’s eye, the relationship established between human blinking and a flashing light bulb appears both oddly logical and deeply poetic. When movements of multiplied eyeball images on a video screen are used to control inflatable plastic tubes and coloured lights connected to the monitor, the resultant creature seems to live a life of its own. All “organs†of the creatures inhabiting this interactive space are deliberately kept transparent through the use of different kinds of plastics. Paradoxically, this legibility of their “bodily†functions makes them still more mysterious and biologically convincing, like luminescent jellyfish.
Originally
from we make money not art
by
reBlogged
by michael
on Nov 17, 2006, 7:40AM
Real radish races on the net
Jardiland invites you to take part to a real radish races on Internet.
Unlike The Telegarden -where web users collectively interacted with a remote garden, Jardiland allows each web breeder to remotely manage an autonomous robotic module in which her/his individual radish will be able to grow.
A more accessible and autonomous technology has been developed to spread radish racing boxes all over the world and allow a participant to manage their own radish growing device. The growing boxes are all to be simultaneously closed at the onset of the race. Only the selected breeder will have access to the plant management through www.jardiland.org. The player will have to judiciously administer an array of radish growing parameters controlling this tiny biosphere.
The gardener must first plant the seed with a small robotic arm, afterwards s/he must daily bring attention to the radish: water it, feed it with fertilizer, turn on and off a grow-lamp, ventilate the box with a fan, and modulate the temperature through a heater and a temperature sensor.
A limited quantity of water, fertilizer and electrical energy will be allocated to each module at the beginning of the race. In consequence, a clever evaluation and use of these factors will be crucial and decisive for a positive outcome.
A webcam will take 3 photos a day and will allow the web gardener to control the growth of his radish – though only the top of the radish will be visible.
After 21 days the modules are opened, the radishes dug up, and the gardener with the biggest radish takes the prize! Subsequently, every breeder will receive by post the radish she has carefully nurtured.
Jardiland blends farming and food supply with issues of telepresence, tele-surveillance, remotely controlled interaction and web community.
A project by France Cadet and Jean-Pierre Mandon.
Originally
from we make money not art
by
reBlogged
by michael
on Nov 16, 2006, 10:29PM
ArtBots 2006 NYC Regional Show
ArtBots 2006 NYC Regional Show
By Rachel Metz
They say you can find anything in New York City. This weekend, that included
a room full of laughing, groaning, whooshing robots on a SoHo side street,
going about their automaton business while oblivious tourists clogged nearby
streets.
The ArtBots 2006 NYC Regional Show, part of the science+art festival 2006,
in New York City, is a robot talent show created by dorkbot founder Douglas Repetto. Pieces on
display included Brett Doar’s “Robozoic,” which lets visitors imagine a time
when tiny solenoid creatures may have roamed the earth and Ranjit
Bhatnagar’s “Misericordiam,” which allowed a mysterious, old accordion to
play on its own schedule.
“One of the things I really like its to have a broad view of what it means
to combine robotics and art, and I think this selection represents that
broad view really well,” Repetto said. A crowd milled about the gallery,
touching, staring and squinting at exhibits, momentarily part of a world
where machine meets creativity.
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November 13, 2006
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Kinetic Art and Architecture part 1
I’m going to spend a couple of weeks looking at ideas around movement, in art and architecture, If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear from you. I’m going to start with some images from early works and lead up to whats been happening more recently.
above left – Naum Gabo’s Standing Wave, above right – an Alexander Calder Mobile
Kinetic art depends on motion for its effects. Since the early twentieth century artists have been incorporating movement into art partly to explore the possibilities of movement, partly to introduce the element of time, partly to reflect the importance of the machine and technology in the modern world, partly to explore the nature of vision. Movement has either been produced mechanically by motors or by exploiting the movements of people, air, water, and other kinetic forces in space. A pioneer of Kinetic art was Naum Gabo with his motorised Standing Wave of 1919-20. Mobiles were pioneered by Alexander Calder from about 1930. Kinetic art became a major phenomenon of the late 1950s and the 1960s.
Marcel Duchamp was the first artist in modern times to use actual movement to explore the mechanics of seeing. The above image is Rotary Glass Plates (Precision Optics), propellerlike pieces of glass painted with black and white lines and mounted on a sturdy metal rotating axle, made in 1920 with the help of his Man Ray. As the motor-driven axle turns, the lines on the separate pieces of glass appear to join up and form complete circles. The Rotary Glass Plates, however, set something of an aesthetic standard. Improvised from an unlikely assortment of materials, motorized, the movement cumbersome and somewhat alarming to watch (one dreads that a glass fragment will detach and become airborne), the overall effect remarkable–this was to become the pattern for many kinetic works over the next five decades.
Above Laszlo Moholy-Nagy’s Light-Space Modulator (1922-30), assembled from what looks like a selection of kitchen utensils, is a classic early successor, its collection of metal plates, wires and wooden balls revolving in the beam of two powerful spotlights to create a shadow dance on the adjacent walls.
Originally
from Interactive Architecture dot Org
by
reBlogged
by michael
on Nov 12, 2006, 11:38PM
Bartlett School of Architecture – Interactive Architecture Workshop
Today the Bartlett School of Architecture, London will start a new academic year and so I've put a little info online about the Interactive Architecture Workshop otherwise known as Unit 14 . Rather than my rather Biased opinion here is a short extract from Building Design Magazine's review of the Bartlett Summer Exhibition and in particular Unit 14.
"Diploma unit 14 was particularly strong and seemed to exemplify the dean’s claim that Bartlett students “think, write and design all at the same time”. Led by Stephen Gage, the unit’s theme was Architecture is Magic and addressed architecture’s ability to reflect our understanding of the natural world and the way that people perceive objects and spaces. With projects ranging from buildings to machines and performing characters, the unit offers an eclectic range of styles and yet is one of the most coherent exhibits. The standard of work across the units is exemplary and the school continues to set the standard by which others are measured. "
Unit 14 has enjoyed a lot of recent success with the award for 'Best of Show' i.e. the best unit exhibition at the Bartlett Summer Exhibition 2005. Two of the Units students Ian Laurence and Karl Normanton were awarded the top two students of the 2005-2006 academic year and we also came runners up in Best of Show at this years Summer Exhibition. On a personal level it has a reputation for being a closeknit Unit that supports each other rather than everyone working independently from home like some of the other Units. We also likes the odd drink to blow off steam after a hard days work. If your a student joining the Bartlett this year, I recommend coming and seeing if its the sort of Unit for you.
Images by Ian Laurence and Karl Normanton
Unit 14
Originally
from Interactive Architecture dot Org
by
reBlogged
by michael
on Sep 25, 2006, 12:01AM
SHiFT: Robotic Art
Leonel Moura’s presentation at SHiFT 2006 described his work making Robotic Art. Though he programs robots, Moura was quick to point out that though most people think of programming as a means of control, his art is more focused on enabling autonomy.
Moura outlined a few examples of where “self-organization via simple systems” can lead to complex construction. The pheromone trails of ants (which get stronger the more ants follow the same path) enable elaborate anthills to form. Human navigation experimentation leads to natural forming paths and bottom up urban construction creates living areas where most people prefer to dwell.
Based on these principles, Moura builds “machines that decide what to do for themselves”. Examples of his work can be found on his site. Including the RAP (robotic action planner) system that determines when its paintings are done and signs its name.
Moura’s requirements for true robot autonomy:
- Independent Body
- Accumulate Energy by own means
- Gather information directly from the environment
- Avoid situations that can be harmful
- Repair itself
- Learn from experience
Originally
from Functioning Form: Interface Design
by
reBlogged
by michael
on Dec 31, 1969, 11:59PM
The Office For Robotic Architectural Media & Bureau For Responsive Architecture
Filamentosa: An ultra-lightweigh skyscraper using an actuated tensegrity structure exo-skelital frame tethered internal core. (2004)
The Office For Robotic Architectural Media & The Bureau For Responsive Architecture (oframBFRA) is a small, award winning, architectural practice that designs buildings as well as systems. It is run by founder, Tristan d’Estree Sterk and Robert Skelton who joined as an equal partner in 2004. They specialize in the development of actuated structural & advanced sensor systems for use within the architecture."We conduct this work because many of the technologies that are necessary for producing responsive buildings don’t yet exist and because responsive technologies enable us to improve the performanceof our buildings. More than just building performance, we also hold the strong belief that this work enables us to design a whole new type of architecture that more closely reflects the social and technological conditions of our time."
Sensor/computer/actuator technologies are used to produce intelligent envelopes and structures that seek fresh relationships between the ‘building’ and ‘user’. Their buildings are covered by skins with the ability to alter their shape as the social and environmental conditions of the spaces within and around each building change. The image above shows a full-scale prototype of an actuated tensegrity structure for use within a responsive building envelope.
In particular I found an interesting paper on their website called "Using Actuated Tensegrity Structures to Produce a Responsive Architecture "
Originally
from Interactive Architecture dot Org
by
reBlogged
by michael
on Jul 30, 2006, 11:48PM
Homographies – Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
I saw Rafaiel Lozano-Hemmer give a talk about his exciting work to the Bartlett School of Architecture earlier this year which included a short introduction to HOMOGRAPHIES while it was still in development. Now complete it is an interactive installation featuring 144 robotic fluorescent light fixtures controlled by 7 computerized surveillance systems. As people walk under the piece, the light tubes rotate to create labyrinthine patterns of light that are "paths" or "corridors" between them. In Homographies the "vanishing point" is not architectural, but rather connective, i.e. it is determined by who is there at any given time and varies accordingly. This gives a reconfigurable light-space that is based on flow, on motion, on lines of sight, —an intended contrast to the modernist grid that currently organizes the court. With the assistance of Conroy Badger, Matt Biederman, Sandra Badger, Natalie Bouchard and Will Bauer.
via wmmna
Originally
from Interactive Architecture dot Org
by
reBlogged
by michael
on Jul 25, 2006, 11:11PM
Mini Surveillance Rover
Spy on those sinister dustbunnies behind your monitor and check out your roomate’s crazy toenail fungus without blowing your cover. The SRV-1 Mobile Surveillance Rover can be driven manually via web browser with live video feed or can operate autonomously with basic vision detection with wireless control of up to 300 ft from the host computer.
available at thinkgeek
…
Originally
from core77.com's design blog
reBlogged
by michael
on Jun 28, 2006, 4:57PM
© 2006 digital aesthetics. 
