my hideous progeny: the aberrant + grotesque in architecture
Friday, September 29, 2006
elmo vivisection part one
i felt that it was firstly important to document what elmo was capable of doing, especially beyond notes. i've posted the following video on you tube.
currently elmo is slowly (nervously) being pulled apart, and i will post more info when that is completed.
teletubby vivisection part two
the vivisection of the teletubby is mostly complete. after fully pulling him apart, it was easy to tell how everything worked. i've attached images and an electrical schematic of the wiring.
pulled apart, it looks like a mess. what's most interesting to me are the correlations between the mechanical systems (mostly gears) and the electronic switches. what i found is that some of the gears inside the mechanism have parts that are designed to set off one of three sensors. two of the sensors dictate the direction of motor, and one turns it off. this is how the mechanism responds to the spool of children on the inside.
teletubby vivisection part one or - how i learned to stop worrying and love the elmo.
after getting the stripped screws out of the teletubby's back, i've uncovered the interior which looks like this:
the interior of the teletubby is a combination of electronics and mechanical gears. when the sensor (originally located in the hand of the teletubby) is pushed, it sends a signal to the circuit board which: a) lights up the image being projected b) makes an awful sound
a signal is then sent to the motor, which is connected to a very small gear mechanism. this in turn sets off a series of larger gears to slow the movement, and then passes along to the hooks on the bottom which make the legs of the thing move in circles. these gears are also connected to another series of gears that work upwards along the body to turn the spools that contain the film of those lovely babies.
the piece on the side is the light mechanism - it snaps into two sensors, and is easily removed from the casing in case the light needs to be replaced. overall it's pretty simple.
i'll take more pictures of the interior mechanisms tomorrow - i do have most of it mapped out in my journal. the doodles below show the overall schematic layering of how it is all put together. by locating key screws, it was easy to strip the whole thing apart by each specific layer.
by numbering screws and parts schematically i have a pretty good understanding of how this thing all works together. it was dropped on the floor this afternoon, and once we found all the gears that had escaped it was quite easy to put back together. it's worth mentioning that the wires are very tight in the packaging, but most of the mechanisms are not fixed inside the casing, they are set inside holes and can be taken out.
the next step is to solder in additional wire between connections so that i can really pull the thing apart, as the wires are pretty restricted. it should give me a better idea of electronic schemactic.
History: for my historical research I am starting to look into the history of robotics and automata, especially in folklore and pop culture. i've found references of robots in stories about Hephaestus - "golden servants" were constructed out of gold. there are more references in egyptian mythology and history, and the idea of automata continues steadily though history (even during the dark ages) to current time, including Prague's Golem, the automata in France during Louis IVX's reign, and Mary Shelley's Frakenstein. what i'm personally most interested in is the relationship of the machine to the human body. in the 1700s, Jacques de Vaucanson made a series of automata that ate, flew, and deficated. he also likened the human body to the machine, and felt that any part of the body could ultimately be replaced by a machine. i started looking at some references of 'robots' in our pop culture. they are representational in the most unusual ways - would a robot need another of the opposite sex with which to procreate? what would be the purpose? and if not, what is the purpose of recreating a robot in the likeness of ourselves, specifically "female" robots that are complete with curves and breasts?
it's something i will be pursuing much more vigoriously in the next little while. i should be getting some books in soon.
(got it working!)i felt this needed to be added, more so for interest sake. hot chip makes some pretty awesome electronic music - although conventional instruments are used, there are many points throughout their albums where they create very strange and complex sounds using the synth. what i love is that this video pokes fun at compy-gen overhaul of the industry. kitty kats girls rolling in fire, anyone?
vivisect this! it's been narrowed down to the "let's pretend elmo," and the child-lovin' teletubby. unfortunately for everyone else, the mechanisms are loud and annoying. i'm going to start researching the history of robotics, starting with greek myth and running through to the 18th century. A lot has been written of the subject, so amazing discoveries will be posted here soon.
-the parallel relationships between the two swinging bars in the artobolevsky machine have been attached to the circular pulleys from the second machine, maintaining the constraints that were necessary from the original machine. -adding the arms to the circles actually helped to draw the pedal of the parabola more effectively, and as the second circle is dropped lower, it does start to draw the lower portion of the pedal.
new points have been attached to all swinging arms, which varied from the original two designs. this visually charts the swing of the two arms, drawing archs.
the machine is constucted primarily of wood, which adds much more lateral stability than the original paper machine. furthermore, it was possible to assemble the machine largely with friction fits - so it can be taken apart to accomodate any new mechanisms in further assignments.
1) a baby's piano that not only plays the standard twinkle-twinkle junk, but individual notes and barn noises 2) poseable elmo that pretends he is a dog or on fire or something 3) a teletubby doll with pictures of children in it's stomach that rotate when the legs move. i don't feel i really need to elaborate on this one further. it's mostly weird.
the children's section is full of magical, magical things. it's like christmas all over again...1964.
the combination machine has begun. both machines have been assembled based largely on the geometrical similarities found between both machines. to maintain the parallel lines that were so difficult in the original drawing machine, the new arms will be attached to circles - and this ties into the wheels in the second machine.
drawings aside (posted tomorrow upon further completion) - the collection of junk from the v-v boutique has begun, starting with an old slide projector. The case inside is marked christmas 1964 - unfortunately it didn't contain slides. apparently whomever donated the piece considered the fact that some nut-job architecture student would find this all too golden an opportunity. maybe a different day. and what a glorious day that will be.
the construction of the artobolevsky machines has begun, images follow.
the not so final product - two strange machines (one that doesn't really work) and one that makes some pretty interesting movements. to incorporate the two should be interesting, and it should be nice to work with the parameters of some better materials. more importantly, it should be an interesting creative process that may be somewhat more liberating.
the original mechanism for creating the pedal of a parabola. if anyone can tell me specifically what part of the parabola this is, please let me know - it would be pretty helpful. i've posted what jae from korea has to say about it:
the mechanism draws the bottom portion, but not the complete parabola. it doesn't say it draws parabolas. mysterious.
welcome to the first posting of my blog. here is a rabbit ambulance - more of relevance to come as work progresses, or maybe when my harddrive is fixed.
