Many among the robot builders and tinkerers who gathered in our hackspace had for long years secretly harboured these deep urges to make rotating mechanical eyes that are able to follow an onlooker. Who wouldn’t, we asked ourselves? I myself, yours truly, had even imagined a pretend historical setting for these eyes, a legend that could somehow add depth to a gigantic mechanical eye installation.

Initial tests however, showed that no-way were we going to be able to produce a whole wall of them in the free time we had. They would look brilliant, but would all have to share the same movement, using pulleys or ingenious contraptions used commonly in animatronics.

We started discussing how they could be made without the usual system that powers moving eyeballs, i.e Servomechanisms, or - servos - which can be loud and jerky, as well as generally expensive both in energy consumption and parts cost. An interesting development came when Roboticist and puppet designer David McGoran realised you could move a small ball, held in place in some way, using only home made electromagnetic coils that push and pull a magnetic base around inside a sphere.

We now have two prototypes of this device, and more to come soon for sure. But the interesting thing about this of course is that if you have an idea for something you want to create or experiment with, Uncraftivism is a completely open exhibition, as explained in the detailed flyer for the event:

For example, I will be using the Arnolfini’s Light room, (or Dark room?) to run some Ganzfeld Experiments using arduino based or DIY sensory deprivation machines. It’s part sound/light installation and experiment, and part fun brain hack and DIY gadget, which I hope you will be able to take home in some way or other. And lots of other people are joining in in many ways. According to the Arnolfini “Craftivism is a participative exhibition responding to the resurgent interest in craft as it relates to socially-engaged art practice”, so basically anything you make is a happy entrant.

Here is what the organiser Rui Guerra has to say about taking part in Craftivism’s satellite event, Uncraftivism:

“unCraftivism is uncurated. Your work will not be judged, or restricted by a theme, nor does it have to be finished.”

1.    Create a wiki page to document your event;  (Simply type the desired URL ex: http://www.craftivism.net/wiki/MyEvent )
   
2.    Add your event to the program;  (Edit the online Program)
3.    Announce it in your own network;

Hope to see you there!

So dorkbot have come to this fair country, or um, principality (not sure what Wales is these days?) to participate in the mini maker faire here in Cardiff.  We came with some Pisanomatic™ bikes. 4 of them to be precise, and they are now working, although the fourth is still soundless as it’s missing it’s crucial polystyrene, and hence, once the software is loaded on them, they will be missing a piece of the quartet.

There’s a huge variety of people here both visitors and stall people, some on the electronics side, doing circuit bending or LEDs, others stitching networks on cloth, playing google maps based routes as a melody or teaching people how to knit. A smoothie bike (by artist Carolyn Ryves who came to a dorkbot years ago, when it was in the Watershed) sits next to me humming as it blends, while John Honnibal whispers next to me - “it’s not sound, it needs a ball bearing”. Makes nice smoothies all the same though.

Sadly, the smoothie bike inventor is not here today so we can cross pollinate that idea. And cross pollination seems to be what is happening with lots of people, as has happened recently with Bristol Dorkbot participants, who have all recently, for example, discovered their mutual obsession with creating mechanical eyes whose stares can follow you around.

The GPS device sits outside in it’s missile-like metal piping pretending to be a WWII weapon, chained to the staircase and playing different melodies as different people move it around.

I’m also proud to show the table with our first product, the Bloktek Squeeeler, which we are selling for a fiver. I’m a bit less proud to admit that we only just located the soldering irons, and that instead of making one, I’m here writing this blog post.

So I’ll go off now, hoping one of us will report back later on the performance of the Pisano bike orchestra later on in the car park. (by Ale)

Images Courtesy of Staging Sound 2.0

Circuit bending, mobile music built round bicycle parts, robot glockenspiel and so on, all culminated in a parade come performance from some of our key members.

Moving forward we have a chance to repeat the experience in Cardiff next Friday/Saturday as part of the Cardiff Festival of Creative Technology, Although not strictly a sound and music based event this time the musical unicycles will be making a return and growing in number, hopefully some classic 8-Bit DIY will be working in time along with a number of random circuit constructions. Additionally we’d still like some people to assist in introducing the people of Cardiff to the world of circuit bending, even if their introduction is also your own.

More items are definately welcome and to this end Dorkbot is back in the Pervasive Media Studio this coming Tuesday from 7pm. Get a preview of some of the ongoing projects and contribute some more ideas of your own,

Sorry for the late postings of recent with our website, but you may or may not know that we’ve been pretty proactive over the last few months. Dorkbot has become much more practical you could say.

Our team have been doing a fantastic job and we hope that as the summer settles into Autumn, more of you will join us in our current tour that is in the making.

The next leg of the tour is planned to take place in Cardiff on the weekend of 22-24th October at http://www.mayyouliveininterestingtimes.org.uk

Projects are coming together, & we aim to make, show & amaze with Dorkbot curiosities & wonders that Dorkbotters are going to make or are making or even want to make on the weekend.

So with that, I would like to ensure that all are aware that we are NOT having a Dorkbot this week for September. We sort of need a break *phew* (although this isnt really the case!)

Instead we would like to suggest an alternative event at a venue across the road in @Bristol. The Science Cafe will be holding and evening on Tuesday September 15th - When Engineers were Heroes - Cafe-At-Bristol. We thought this sounded like the sort of thing us Dorkbotters might like, it’s free and starts at 8pm.

Please look out for new announcements.
We will be calling for people to sign up for the Cardiff event asap as we know some of you have some great ideas, projects and it’d be great fun to see as many people as possible take part in the fun at Chapter in Cardiff next month.

Rachel & David (s)

You are welcome to pop in, get involved etc. Just turn up!

Click the link for details:

http://dorkbotbristolaug09.eventbrite.com

For those who don’t know, we are getting projects together, BIG or small…

and so soon we are off on a tour!! ok it’s only to BATH to start with but here’s the detail, come on get onboard it’s all just a bit of fun!

If you’re interested in getting more involved then the dorkbot-bristol blabber mailing list is the list for you.  Click the link to sign up and then send us an e-mail to let us know your ideas. For other bits of help, HELP we could really do with then email us at dorkbotbristol at googlemail.com

THIS IS WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT!

Free
Media Art Bath and Dorkbot Bristol invite makers, tinkerers and performers of all things both
electronic and acoustic that make music, sound and noise to come along to the
STAGING SOUND 2.0 Sound Hack and participate in a citywide Guerilla Busking infiltration.

The theme /HOMEMADE/ can be broadly interpreted to include any music production that is out
of the ordinary, cobbled together, improvised, low cost, unpredictable and even haphazard in
nature. For the Sound Hack weʼre interested in all things /HOMEMADE/ and improvised, to
include -

• Modding, hacking and reinventing
• Homemade acoustic instruments of all shapes and sizes
• Solar/wind/bike powered instruments and sound systems
• Homemade software
• Circuit bending
• Beatboxing
• DIY electronic tinkering

…and anything else youʼve made!
If it was made in your bedroom or on your kitchen table, then itʼs just what weʼre looking for, the
/HOMEMADE/ Dorkbot Bristol Sound Hack will be a chance for you to come along, show what
youʼve got, share tips and ideas with Dorkbot Bristol and other makers, demo your idea or just
get inspired!

For Guerilla Busking weʼre looking for DIY sound and music-makers to infiltrate the City and
perform with all manner of musical oddities in some of Bathʼs lesser known nooks and crannies,
Guerilla Busking explores all of the STAGING SOUND 2.0 themes –

/FIELD/SCAVENGED/HOMEMADE/ - from electronic gadgetry, DIY musical instruments to
scavenged sounds, mixed up field recordings and more, bring what you want… Surprise us!

Homemade instruments, mods, electronic, analogue, digital, DIY, hacking.
This is a broad category that can include homemade versions of classical instruments, modifications of
existing instruments or playing instruments in new ways, completely invented and homemade instruments,
circuit bending and hacking eg. Mikro Orchestra (formerly The Gameboyzz Orchestra Project) or James
Houston’s recreation of Radiohead’s track ‘Nude’ using redundant office electronics (scanners, dotmatrix
printers etc).

————————————————————–

Watch this space and get ready to make, hack, eat cake and pack for the trip!

See you soon….Dorkbot Bristol Team

Thanks though to all those that have begun to put in some time and effort to really bring this project alive and kicking with our own collaborative projects. It’s exciting just thinking about what might be on the horizon with some of the wonderful ideas and people that are contributing to Dorkbot right now, and all on the brink of new endeavours and opportunities!!!

And if that wasn’t enough we were also treated to just a couple of great presentations too.

As ever Richard Sewell gave us something to think about with his a 3D scanning talk. Here’s a bunch links that he has kindly offered to back it up with:

• The scanning software (free, Windows only)
  http://www.david-laserscanner.com/
• Meshlab, open-source mesh editor:
  http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/
• My line laser:
  http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/5mw-laser-module-emitter-red-line-p-123.html?zenid=85dbcbbfaaad741bbe85710d68f10c00
  Spirit levels sometimes come with a line laser, these days, and that might also be a convenient way to get one.
• Seeed Studio have lots of other good stuff, including the tiny oscilloscope:
  http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/digital-storage-oscilloscope-with-panels-p-167.html?zenid=85dbcbbfaaad741bbe85710d68f10c00
  and an interesting PCB-manufacturing service:
  http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Seeed are in China, but their shipping was reasonable and took as long as they said it would, and they were responsive to my mails.
And, as I mentioned it, here’s a link for Space Captain Smith :

• http://www.amazon.co.uk/Space-Captain-Smith-Chronicles-Isambard/dp/1905802137/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248287014&sr=8-1

Aside from Richard’s presentation we were introduced to Iain Sharp, a regular at London Dorkbot meets who travelled to Bristol from Maidenhead. We were very honoured when we were given a little look at Iain’s wonderful projects. We hope to see Iain again but in the meantime here’s a link for hisLunar Lander game: http://www.lushprojects.com/lunarlander/index.html

More meetings to come, look out for the time and place for August but it’s a HACK! so not PMS in August…

Rachel