New touch puppets

While doing some research tonight to hopefully find some inspiration for some more of my objects within the world of puppetry I came across an old fashioned toy commonly known as either the 'climbing man' or 'climbing monkey'. Basically the toy consists of a figure suspended between two strings with the ability to slide up and down according to which string is pulled due to friction creation in the manner of which the strings are attached. When the toy moves up the strings it appears as though it is climbing - I find this absolutely fascinating! So I picked a member of my army and gave it a try!

I decided to use YMCA Elmo because he has similar arm actions to that of a human, if that was whom were to be controlling the toy. This worked great! Originally I made the figure out of paper and then decided to switch to a metal plate because I could create the same effect that I had with my walking monsters touching each other. Here is the outcome so far...

Touch supportive components

Figuring out, with the circuitry that I created at the end of the weekend, what I wanted to do with my monsters has lead me into creating components to allow this to function more effectively. Basically, before I had simply placed a steel rod on the two monster's hands...but after critiques last week I have decided to move further away from the monster's animal identities and more towards viewing them instead as more like systems or simply components working together to create an action or set of occurrences. To do this I have chosen to remove the arm elements for the original toys and begin to work upwards in creating taller creatures that have a more structural identity. This involved the designing of some components because I am now creating something new instead of working with what is available to me.
The 2 new components that I am working on serve the purpose of supporting the very thin rods attached to each monster that will activate a set of independent events or occurrences. I am adding new elements to existing structural components to create extensions of pieces that work well.

Creating light through interaction & touch

With my new found electronics knowledge gained this afternoon (funny yes) I was able to start thinking a lot more in depth about where I wanted my walking creatures to progress. Patrick and I had talked more again on Friday about my monsters being able to interact with each other more so than they are currently (with relating to each other only through walking). Either way I knew I needed to work more on the projection aspect of the studio...so here goes!

While learning circuits today I was happy to discover that the steel rods I had got to extend the monster's limbs was able to conduct a current (yay!) and so could a thin sheet of metal that I also got a hold of (even better!!!). This opens up a whole bunch of possibilities for where I can go from here. So I tested this condition, or what I figured might be possible....

Honestly I was so excited when this worked, even though I realize that it's a simple thing (keep in mind that I have no previous electronics background). So I took this idea and translated through the actions of my monsters. I attached a thin steel rod to the top of each them that would sway back and forth. On the Chicken I created the positive portion of the circuit from the battery pack and ran a wire to the new limb. Another wire ran from the Chicken to the positive end of an LED taped to the wall on the other side of the room. On the Teletubby I linked a wire to its new limb and ran the other end of this across the room and attached it to the negative leg of the LED.

To complete the circuit and turn on the LED all that had to happen was that the two monster's new limbs would come into contact with each other throughout their sporadic walking around the room attached to their new cable suspension system (wire with pulleys running along them which each monster has to support their 'insides' and give them boundaries). This may not happen often but when it does the LED across the room becomes lit up!!! (the video is very dim, so watch closely)

By doing this I now have a million new ideas running through my mind! Basically I now want to combine the contact of the two monsters with each other along with the solo contact of each individual monster with other unique elements. My first idea is having the two, when touching each other still powering a system of lighting but to add something else to the mix I will hang other metal panels throughout their shared space which will be wired to either more lighting circuits or sound activating circuits - either should be exciting and will create a series of independent and unique outcomes. Stay tuned!

LED...oooo...ahhhh

So I figured it's about time that I started to actually work with electronics - this is a huge step for me! I'm not exactly sure why I haven't created any circuits yet, I think it's mainly because my focus had been more on mechanical elements....either way, here goes!

My first step was to go over some of the basics. I went back and read a lot of the "intro" stuff that Patrick posted way back at the beginning of September, it was a huge help, also so was Randy that showed me the basics of the breadboard (there's your shout out!). Anyways I started extremely easy with creating an LED circuit and then from there I started experimenting with resistors and light sensors - overall it was a very productive & exciting day for me!

My first LED lit up!

Once I figured out one LED it wasn't long before I had a few set up, but I was pretty happy that I started using resistors which allowed me to dim some of the lights - the photo above shows 3 of the same green LED but all at different brightnesses.

I had some light sensors so I decided to see if I could make one work, success! I was pretty proud of this one :)

Jacob's Ladder

I came across this - 'Jacob's Ladder' while doing some research and think it's amazing!!! If you google the term check out the images, some are fantastic!

Borrowed from - Visual Entertainment - http://www.answers.com/topic/spark-gap?cat=technology

A Jacob's Ladder with electrical arc

A Jacob's ladder (more formally, a high voltage traveling arc) is a device for producing a continuous train of large sparks which rise upwards. The spark gap is formed by two wires, approximately vertical but gradually diverging away from each other towards the top.

When high voltage is applied to the gap, a spark forms across the bottom of the wires where they are nearest each other, rapidly changing to an electric arc. Air breaks down at about 1MV/m (24kV/in), depending on humidity, temperature, etc. Apart from the anode and cathode voltage drops, the arc behaves almost as a short circuit, drawing as much current as the electrical power supply can deliver, and the heavy load dramatically reduces the voltage across the gap.

The heated, ionized air rises, carrying the current path with it. As the trail of ionization gets longer, it becomes more unstable, finally breaking. The voltage across the electrodes then rises and the spark re-forms at the bottom of the device.

This cycle leads to an exotic-looking display of electric white, yellow, blue or purple arcs which is often seen in movies about mad scientists. The device was a staple in schools and science fairs of the 1950s and 1960s, typically constructed out of a Model T spark coil, or any other source of high voltage in the 10,000 volt - 30,000 volt range, like a neon sign transformer or circuit (10-30 kV) or a television picture tube circuit (flyback transformer) (10-28 kV), and two coat hangers or rods built into a "V" shape. The sparks can burn through thin paper and plastic and start fires; contact with the exposed high voltage can be lethal.

Chicken Monster

There are still some bugs to work out but this is the first prototype for the what I'm calling for now 'Chicken Monster'...based on the same process as the Teletubby Monster I have extended the legs which has in turn created new erratic movements. Currently I am having some issues involving balance as his legs have more joints than the Teletubby as well as a rotating hip joint instead of a stationary one. What I find intriguing about him at this point is that he moves very fast and his movement is completed in two stages - the first a brisk walk and the second a significantly faster run - with a pause in between for about 4 seconds. His arms also have their own up and down action movement independent of the leg movement which should be interesting to work with.

Plan B - Foot

Due to the failure of 'Plan A' I then created 'Plan B', which as I mentioned in a previous post involved an idea from earlier in my process that I decided to revisit. Basically a cutout of wood, sized larger than the existing foot shape, was designed to be sandwiched between the two pieces of plastic. This new shape became the base for securing the metal rods which act as legs to the monster. The shape started as simply a larger version of the original shape but after some trial and error I was able to modify the design so that less material could be used, therefore cutting down on the weight of the foot, which was an earlier issue I was aware of this time around. By modifying the shape I was also able to cut down on the possibility of the two feet hitting each other in the middle.

I first traced the plastic foot and made a cutout from mill board as a prototype as I knew the design might change once I secured the piece.

The shape was then able to be modified to preserve material and cut down on weight of the component.

I then took a tracing of the mill board foot with a few dimensions and imported it into AutoCad so that I could create a more polished template that I could reproduce easier and also mirror to create the opposite foot.

From here I used a wood composite board to create a new foot from the template I produced and then incorporated it into the monster with a connection piece I also created to secure the metal rod legs. The connection of leg to foot consists of a nut secured to the rod with high strength metal glue so that the leg would not slip out of the foot holes drilled into the wood board. The nut was then secured to a piece of nylon coated galvanized strapping used for copper piping so that a screw could be placed on each side of the rod connection, therefore prohibiting the rod from rotating, also an earlier issue I faced. Finally a nut was then placed on each of the screws sandwiching the connection around the wood board foot.

The end result of 'Plan A'

As promised here is a photo from 'Plan A' failure...or rather 'learning experience'. Despite the fact that I spent the weekend using this method for making the feet of the Teletubby monster that didn't even work in the end, I did however learn a ton about mold making.

Plan A failed but Plan B is a success!

So unfortunately, or not depending on how I look at it I guess, my mold making failed, kinda miserably. Each individual step seemed to go well, and I honestly had a really positive and hopeful outcome for the process as a whole as well as a potentially really cool final product, but in the end it just didn't work out.

Basically to summarize things the rubber mold worked great to a certain extent but it took way to long and probably would have greatly benefited from about twice as many coats. The rubber mold had issues sticking to the plaster backing, which I probably should have seen coming, and then because of the fragile state of the rubber portion of the mold, unfortunately the resin seeped in between the two layers and acted more like a glue between the two - I totally didn't see this coming. Anyways once I managed to finally get the resin piece out of the two part mold it honestly wasn't going to work exactly how I planned. The fit was just not precise enough and the holes for the steel leg rods just weren't going to work.

So after days of hard work, frustration set in and with some brainstorming a new plan got set into place yesterday! I call it - Plan B!

Plan B reverts back to what I had originally discussed during an earlier guest crit - sandwiching a material in between the two foot pieces and securing the rods somehow - the "somehow" is the part that has been a rediculous battle! Sketches will get posted along with photos tomorrow but basically my 'monster' is now walking again, yay, and the system that I have used allows me to completely disassemble him and pack him up for Montreal (always a plus).

A have achieved a little tiny piece of success and will now continue to move forward!

Walking Monster - pre-deconstruction

Sorry about the sideways video...I wanted to get this up on my site but I can't get it flipped around for whatever reason, when I have a new one with the new foot construction I will post it :) For now, just tilt your heads to the right...

Motion

Frustration sets in

Currently I am overwhelmed! I am absolutely in love with the possibilities of my walking Teletubby in terms of interaction as well as entertainment, but at the same time this excitement has also been discouraging me. Although the other objects that I have hold tons of potential, their capabilities just don't seem to be fitting the ideas that I'm having in terms of movement, especially in terms of movement as a group.

Ideas have been flying through my head like crazy and my concept has been changing slightly more everyday. Despite the changes that I may be making to my ideas my underlying theme stays the same which is research based - movement, puppetry, interaction -

So out of frustration today I went on the hunt for more items that spoke to me in the same way that the Teletubby does. I managed to find a few things that I'm really happy with in terms of possibility. The first is a tiny walking duck and the second is a bouncing Tigger. The duck excites me so much in that it will be amazing once I extend its legs in the same way that I'm doing currently with the Teletubby, but it walks much faster and has a more complicated arm movement opening up a few more possibilities that way. The Tigger has a crazy amount of leg power and I'm hoping to give him a few more legs than the other two character which should create a really interesting movement!

So hopefully this means I'm on track to something good, not that I wasn't before but it feels like I'm still lacking focus....tomorrow will hopefully be clearer! It's not that I'm not moving forward it's just that I'm not totally sure where I'm headed....although that may not be a negative thing...

Imitation of Movement

Looking at the general paths of motion of each of my objects I then related this to the actions of certain animals so that I could attempt to mirror the movements and behaviours that each are associated with. So far only a few seemed obvious and I hope to look at others this week more carefully so that I can pair them appropriately.

From here mimicking the animals through puppetry is my next plan of action. Once each action is assigned an animal I can then extend the movements and attach a cutout to the exaggeration. The iconic images can then be projected onto the wall with a light source, therefore turning the machine into the manipulator, taking the human out of the process which is an idea I keep coming back to which is taken from The Chess Player written by Mark Sussman previously mentioned in earlier posts.

Another possibility is that the animal figures can have their own light source so that when the lights are dimmed the visuality of the machines is no longer the focus but instead the focus is the animal images which seem to be alive.

Simple Beauty of Puppetry

While searching for some inspiration this afternoon after a day of experimentation with mechanisms and mold making I came across a website dedicated to Puppeteers that is extremely interesting!

My main goal at this point is to link together the three elements that are most important to the context of what I'm hoping to create -

exaggeration - beauty of the simple mechanical movement - puppetry

- through these things working together I hope to achieve a sense of poetic chaos

At this point some of the images that are making my imagination run wild with possibility are -