From sharpie7 at pinedragon.com Wed Jan 7 13:51:45 2009 From: sharpie7 at pinedragon.com (Iain Sharp) Date: Wed Jan 7 13:51:59 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] Dorksnow - Getting organized Message-ID: <31A61D7D637A4E72A7BC4F40ABCB189D@bigpc> Folks, The turkey is finished, the beer is drunk and now we face the eternal question: "what am I going to do next?" To which I propose an answer: Dorksnow - the winter weekend for dorks. We are planning on it happening Feb 7th/8th at Limehouse. Details are still TBA, but we'll get something out soon. In the meantime I want to try and step up the organisation a bit, so: i) Anyone interested in helping organise please email me ii) Could the possible presenters and workshop organizers please email me and confirm they are available and give a sketch of what they might do iii) Anyone interested in providing a performance (music, video, film whatever) on Saturday night let me know iv) We may need someone to bring AV stuff: amp, mic, mixing desk, speakers. Offers would be much appreciated. Any other questions/comments/suggestions are welcome here or on the Wiki: http://dorkbotlondon.org/wiki/index.php/DorkSnow We had to password protect the wiki to stop the spam bots, but please don't let that destroy it as an interactive tool. All the best for 2009 Iain -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://music.columbia.edu/pipermail/dorkbotlondon-blabber/attachments/20090107/3fcf1190/attachment.html From mina.miller at gmail.com Thu Jan 8 07:44:37 2009 From: mina.miller at gmail.com (Mina Miller) Date: Thu Jan 8 07:44:47 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] Stoke Newington and thereabouts food co-op Message-ID: <969a68390901080444w63758254p69d6ebec5a8796f1@mail.gmail.com> Hi all, Sorry to stray a bit off-topic but was wondering if any of you lovely people live in north London and if so, if you would be interested in joining a food co-op/buying group. Basically this allows a group of people to place bulk orders for food and other grocery items at wholesale prices. Many wholesalers accept bulk order of ?300 or so and you can get huge savings on organic ranges of pantry items as compared to when you go to Tesco or Sainsburys. You can buy all sorts of things (beans, pasta, oil, coffee, Ecover products, the list goes on) and support an ethical retailer and avoid those depressing supermarkets while also saving money. I'm trying to put together a buying group and already have a number of people interested so if anyone is keen please email me off-list. Incidentally if you know of a buyer's group or food co-op in Stoke Newington that is already set up in the neighbourhood and willing to take on new people/show me the ropes please let me know! I've made enquiries and done internet searches but can't find much. Best, Mina -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://music.columbia.edu/pipermail/dorkbotlondon-blabber/attachments/20090108/72b9d3e9/attachment.html From Josette at OReilly.co.uk Thu Jan 8 10:44:43 2009 From: Josette at OReilly.co.uk (Josette Garcia) Date: Thu Jan 8 10:47:52 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] Maker Faire - Newcastle, UK Message-ID: <83A70F4D99BD6341BBAE165BD7E8BBFD44C9D3@ora-srv02.OReilly.local> Dear Dorkbot Member As I am sure you are aware, it is now official the first UK Maker Faire has been announced! Maker Faire - Newcastle, UK, March 14-15, 2009 We are looking for Makers! Maker Faire seeks to inspire, inform, connect and entertain thousands of Makers and aspiring Makers of all ages and backgrounds through the public gathering of tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, students, authors and commercial exhibitors. The first UK Maker Fair will take place in Newcastle 14-15 March as part of Newcastle ScienceFest - a 10 day festival celebrating creativity and innovation. We're looking for creative and imaginative Makers to share their inventions and the more creative and imaginative, the better! We'll provide free exhibition space for Makers to showcase their wares and full details about the Faire, application form for participants can be found on http://makezine.com/makerfaire/newcastle/2009/ In the last decade Newcastle has joined forces with neighbouring Gateshead and has transformed itself into one of Europe's most exciting places. Architectural icons such as the gigantic Angel of the North (whose 54m wingspan is longer than a jumbo jet!) best symbolises the region's unquenchable thirst for creativity and sense of fun. Innovation has always been at the heart of the city. Newcastle's Mosley Street was the first in the world to be lit by electricity and famous inventors such as Charles Parsons, William Armstrong, George Stephenson and Joseph Swan have all lived or worked in the city. Today, Newcastle continues to inspire inventors, artists and scientists alike. Johnathon Ive, designer of the iPod studied at one of the city's universities and scientists at the Centre of Life were the first in the world to successfully clone a human embryo! Hope you and your exhibits can make it to Newcastle. Kindest regards Josette ### Josette Garcia PR/Marketing Manager O'Reilly UK Limited Tel: +44 (0)1252 711776 www.oreilly.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://music.columbia.edu/pipermail/dorkbotlondon-blabber/attachments/20090108/7988e96e/attachment.html From sharpie7 at pinedragon.com Wed Jan 14 14:33:23 2009 From: sharpie7 at pinedragon.com (Iain Sharp) Date: Wed Jan 14 14:36:01 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] Announcing - Dorksnow Feb 7th/8th 2009 Limehouse Town Hall Message-ID: Dear All, The moment you have been waiting for has arrived. It's official - the first Dorkbot London winter activity weekend (otherwise known as Dorksnow) will take place the weekend of Feb 7th/8th at Limehouse town hall. Activities will be from around 10:30am on Saturday till late and 10:30 to 5pm on Sunday. For full details go over to the wiki: http://dorkbotlondon.org/wiki/index.php/DorkSnow Cost is ?15 on the door which includes an evening meal on Saturday night. To give us an idea of numbers *please add your name to the wiki* if you are planning on coming (which is now open again to edit). Some activities have additional costs. Fully confirmed activities include: Beginners circuit building - learn how to solder and make stuff (or practice if you've done it before). We are going to make the Atari Punk Console which is a fun simple "music" circuit. ?10 in advance to cover component costs - email me for details. Arduino workshop - Bring your own Arduino and laptop (details on the wiki) Sarah Angliss demoing some of her work and also running a beginners workshop on evolutionary algorithms in Processing. We've also got several other things in the pipeline - watch this space. Also if you have something you want to talk about or run a workshop there's still time to get involved. Finally there will be beer for sale and the famous Dorkcamp cocktail bar will ride again. Bring novelty booze for the bar. Hope to see lots of you there. Iain. From edwhyman at hotmail.com Wed Jan 14 14:36:15 2009 From: edwhyman at hotmail.com (edwhyman@hotmail.com) Date: Wed Jan 14 14:36:37 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] Vacation reply In-Reply-To: <20090114193557.C102C1B2E64@music.columbia.edu> Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://music.columbia.edu/pipermail/dorkbotlondon-blabber/attachments/20090114/9c152a32/attachment.html From alex at slab.org Mon Jan 19 16:56:59 2009 From: alex at slab.org (alex) Date: Mon Jan 19 16:57:33 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] noise=noise this weds at goldsmiths college Message-ID: <1232402219.5880.18.camel@duck.slab.org> lots of good noise this wednesday including a noisy livecoding set from slub, copy of flyer here: http://slub.org/images/noisenoise.jpg + info below: ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; :::noise=noise::: presents MindBodyBrain... ...an evening concert of noise music, diy harware/software hacking, live coding, new instruments for music expression, live av computer performance. Date: Wednesday 21 January 2009 Location: Great Hall, Richard Hoggart Building, Goldsmiths University, New Cross, London. Time: 18:30-21:00 Entrance fee: FREE Curator: Ryan Jordan ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: Live performances from: DISINFORMATION ROBERT ATWOOD MICK GRIERSON SLUB JOHN BOWERS & LIAM WELLS ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: DISINFORMATION Disinformation performs with live with VLF (Very Low Frequency) band radio recordings of magnetic field noise from the electric rail of the Tokyo Metro and London Underground. Through his ground-breaking Disinformation project (active since 1995), noise DJ and installation artist Joe Banks pioneered the use of electromagnetic (radio) noise from sources such as live mains electricity, lightning, industrial and IT hardware, laboratory equipment, trains, magnetic storms and the sun as the raw material of musical and fine-art publications, exhibits and events. Disinformation has been the subject of ten UK solo exhibitions, experienced by over 100,000 people and described by The Guardian as some of the most beautiful installations around. http://www.flickr.com/photos/disinfo/ http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=B13-09K-Ubc ROBERT ATWOOD Robert Atwood has been experimenting with improvised performances on improvised instruments for several years, first as part of Toronto's "Urban Refuse Group" and subsequently as a solo project in London, UK. He also has explored improvisational music with traditional instruments and effect-processed instruments with Toronto's "Brain Harmonic", and has used and developed sound feedback and sequencing software for performances with London's "Openlab" collective, and live-coding feedback patches for Loss-Livecode. His broad theme of sound performances is the improvisational reaction to generated feedback, in electronic circuits or in software synthesis. In this performance he will use Feedback Machine #1, consisting of a discarded 8-inch woofer cone with a homebuilt amplifier rig and some pedal-effects. The feedback loop is completed by the performer's hands which conduct sound directly from the speaker cone to a pickup microphone. The result of this feedback is further process ed by a specially-developed sequencer program, which samples segments of the sound, sequences them into a loop, and also feeds the output of the loop back into the individual samples. Thus there are two feedback loops on different time scales which the performer will attempt to control, with only partial success, resulting in an unpredictable polyrhythmic performance. http://robert.lurk.org/ MICK GRIERSON Mick Grierson is an experimental artist specialising in real-time interactive audiovisual research, with specific focus on cognition and perception. He works in film, music, and software development, both inside and outside industry, designing, developing and producing new approaches to creating audiovisual experience. In addition to working in traditional roles in film and television, he has designed commercial audiovisual software for the entertainment industries, which has led to several high profile commissions, including title design and digital audiovisual installations for the hit TV show Derren Brown: Trick of the Mind. In January 2008, he collaborated with the Sonic Arts Network to create a freely available interactive audiovisual interface for use by the deaf and hard of hearing. In addition he is lead developer on the Mabuse Audiovisual Composition Software Environment. He is currently working on a three year fully funded AHRC project on audiovisual cognition at Goldsmiths Electronic Music Studios. http://www.mickgrierson.co.uk/ SLUB slub is a live coding band with Dave Griffiths, Alex McLean and Adrian Ward. Slub sound emerges from slub software; melodic and chordal studies, generative experiments and beat processes. Process-based sonic improvisations; live generative music using hand crafted and live coded apps, scripts and l-systems in networked synchrony. With roots in UK electronica and tech culture, slub build their own software environments for creating music in realtime. Only custom composition and DSP software is used. Everything you hear is formed by human minds. http://slub.org/ http://www.adeward.com/ http://pawfal.org/dave/ http://yaxu.org/ JOHN BOWERS & LIAM WELLS Bowers and Wells will simultaneously perform GforGuitar (Wells) and GforGround (Bowers). The performances will be accompanied by computer generated sounds and images derived from multiple cross-modal feedback processes. All material will be tuned in relation to harmonics and sub-harmonics of the AC supply frequency 50 Hz, our fundamental, G. John Bowers works with home brew electronics, self-made instruments and reconstructions of antique image and sound-making devices, alongside contemporary digital technology. He is concerned with making performance environments that combine sound, vision and human gesture at a fundamental physical level. Recent work includes projects to build a music synthesizer using 19th century techniques (The Victorian Synthesizer), explorations of random circuitry (Ohm-My-God), a miniaturisation of Brion Gysin and Ian Sommerville's Dreamachine (My Little Dreamachine), and a reconstruction of early television technology (This Nightlife Instrument). He was recently artist in residence at Fylkingen in Stockholm. He is co-founder of the Onoma Research label and also plays electric guitar in the fundamentalist noise rock band Tonesucker. John Bowers is part of the Interaction Research Studio, Department of Design, Goldsmiths, University of London. http://www.onoma.co.uk/jmbowers.html Liam Wells is a UK based artist working in a number of improvised practices, which explore repetition & irregularity in multiple layered non-linear audio/ visual works. Through a number of linked practices including drone-based noise compositions/ improvisations, installation, video-performances and networked/ net art, he explores textural detail and difference within immersive environments. He is a postgraduate student at theUEA's Electronic Music Studio and is currently Course Leader of Norwich University College of the Arts' (BA Hons) Film and Video. Previously he has been involved in the creation of networked improvisational environments through involvement with a variety of organisations,including the co-curating of various multi-site works with n0media (www.n0media.net) and has recently performed audiovisual works at DIT (Ireland), Fylkingen (Sweden), Norwich Gallery (UK) and City Gallery (Lithuania). Wells is also one third of neo-noise?prog outfit TRANSEPT who have recently been awarded an Arts Council England Escalator Grant for New Music. http://www.liamwells.co.uk From alex at slab.org Tue Jan 20 06:14:43 2009 From: alex at slab.org (alex) Date: Tue Jan 20 06:14:56 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] Nick Montfort at Goldsmiths this Thursday 22nd Jan Message-ID: <1232450083.6511.32.camel@duck> Hi all, Nick Montfort is giving a talk at Goldsmiths this Thursday. I was hoping to be able to host him at dorkbot but things didn't work out... Well worth the journey to South London, he has made some really nice text adventure software. The talk is free and is on the ground floor of the Ben Pimlott building (the new building with the squiggle on top). Nearest train is New Cross Gate or New Cross -- about 5 minutes journey from London Bridge train station. Cheers, alex Nick Montfort: Changing the Way Interactive Fiction is Told * Date: *22 January 2009* Location: Seminar Rooms, Ben Pimlott Building Time: 18:00 - 20:00 This is a special event co-hosted by the Goldsmiths Digital Studios and New Media Forum, Dept. of Media and Communications Stories give pleasure and provoke not only because of what happens in them, but also because of how they are told. It is not just the sequence of incidents that makes Lolita, Ulysses, or The Odyssey so compelling, but also the perspectives used, the order in which events are related, and the distance of the narrator from the characters. Nick will describe techniques for automatic narration, discussing an implemented architecture for interactive fiction development. The system allows many different sorts of interactive fiction to be programmed, and, using a general plan for narrating, allows the telling to change during interaction. NICK MONTFORT is Assistant Professor of Digital Media at the Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. http://nickm.com/me.html From alex at zivanovic.co.uk Wed Jan 21 19:00:38 2009 From: alex at zivanovic.co.uk (Alex Zivanovic) Date: Wed Jan 21 19:00:05 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] Computer Arts Society February Meeting, Peter Zinovieff, computer music pioneer Message-ID: <4977B726.7080607@zivanovic.co.uk> An event that might be of interest to dorkbots: -------- Original Message -------- The Computer Arts Society is please to announce its first talk for this New Year featuring the computer music pioneer Peter Zinovieff. The talk will be held at our new venue - the London Knowledge Lab. Please note we have also changed our meetings to 'the first Wednesday of the month!' Wednesday 4 February 2009 6:30 for 7:00pm London Knowledge Lab - Institute of Education 23 - 29 Emerald St London WC1N 3QS, England Tube: Holborn, Russell Square or Chancery Lane Map: http://tinyurl.com/6h5cds Peter Zinovieff Music and Geology or Geology, Electronic Music and Opera? The talk is about three enterprises of excellence that I have been intimately involved in. I describe my making the first geological map of the Cuillins mountains in Skye (1958), the problems of my early computers (1960?s) in electronic music contrasted to some present day experiments (2008), and the preparation of my libretto for ?The Mask of Orpheus? (1984) by Birtwistle. I show that these wildly different endeavours are not so dissimilar when it comes down to the nuts and bolts of their actual creation. The lecture of 40 minutes is accompanied by archive videos, sounds and slides, as well as a display of rocks, pictures and electronic objects. Peter Zinovieff is a pioneer of electronic and computer music. He is a British inventor of Russian ethnicity, most notable for his EMS company, which made the famous VCS3 synthesiser in the late '60s. The synthesiser was used by many early progressive rock bands such as Pink Floyd and White Noise, Krautrock groups like Kraftwerk as well as more pop oriented artists, a good example being David Bowie. Zinovieff also wrote the libretto for Harrison Birtwistle's opera The Mask of Orpheus. CAS 1968-2009 - supporting the Computer Arts for over 40 years http://www.computer-arts-society.org Future CAS meetings: Wed 4 Mar - Francesca Franco Wed 1 Apr - Joel Pathmore Wed 6 May - Jorn Ebner ==== Paul Brown - based in the Germany Jan - Feb 2009 mailto:paul@paul-brown.com == http://www.paul-brown.com UK Mobile +44 (0)794 104 8228 == USA fax +1 309 216 9900 Skype paul-g-brown ==== Artist in Residence, compArt Project - Bremen University ==== From novazembla at gmail.com Sun Jan 25 11:40:34 2009 From: novazembla at gmail.com (Vincent Van Uffelen) Date: Sun Jan 25 11:40:46 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] building a led matrix Message-ID: <497C9602.20900@gmail.com> Hey there! I'm having already for a longer time the thought that it would be nice to play with larger (but still low-res) LED matrixes to explore their potential as screens for digital content aside from advertisement. However, all the commercial versions are either way too complex, too expensive, or simply don't meet my "aesthetic" expectations. While I'm quite good in programming and would surely be able to cover this part, my knowledge of electronics is limited to the extend that I've got an idea of the components to use but not enough experience to build my own matrix in a reasonable amount of time. I wonder if one of you would be interested in or know someone who might be interested in building such a screen with me. Also I would appreciate any hints to references/building plans available online from which i could start off. Thanks! \\vincent (novazembla@gmail.com) From paulm at paulm.com Sun Jan 25 11:54:46 2009 From: paulm at paulm.com (Paul Makepeace) Date: Sun Jan 25 11:55:00 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] building a led matrix In-Reply-To: <497C9602.20900@gmail.com> References: <497C9602.20900@gmail.com> Message-ID: Hi Vincent, This is probably too low res but at least might be some kind of start in terms of the theory: it's code & discussion on how to control an LED matrix with an Arduino. http://paulm.com/inchoate/2008/03/arduino_showing_multiplexed_led_mat.html Short vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scRxKSdnaLQ P On Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 4:40 PM, Vincent Van Uffelen wrote: > Hey there! > > I'm having already for a longer time the thought that it would be nice to > play with larger (but still low-res) LED matrixes to explore their potential > as screens for digital content aside from advertisement. However, all the > commercial versions are either way too complex, too expensive, or simply > don't meet my "aesthetic" expectations. While I'm quite good in programming > and would surely be able to cover this part, my knowledge of electronics is > limited to the extend that I've got an idea of the components to use but not > enough experience to build my own matrix in a reasonable amount of time. I > wonder if one of you would be interested in or know someone who might be > interested in building such a screen with me. Also I would appreciate any > hints to references/building plans available online from which i could start > off. > > Thanks! > \\vincent (novazembla@gmail.com) > > ........................................................................ > .........dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity.......... > ..........................http://dorkbot.org............................ > ........................................................................ > From m at niij.org Sun Jan 25 11:55:44 2009 From: m at niij.org (Michael Zeltner) Date: Sun Jan 25 11:55:57 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] building a led matrix In-Reply-To: <497C9602.20900@gmail.com> References: <497C9602.20900@gmail.com> Message-ID: <22a9ac850901250855j480140b0p65cffd595ec915d4@mail.gmail.com> 2009/1/25 Vincent Van Uffelen : > Also I would appreciate any > hints to references/building plans available online from which i could start > off. Although I don't know your specific aesthetic requirements, maybe this helps: http://metalab.at/wiki/Led_Matrix Just so you know, it was a collaborative effort and took more than a year to finish :) At 3456 LEDs, there is loads of potential for software and hardware bugs ;) M -- http://niij.org/ From edwhyman at hotmail.com Sun Jan 25 11:56:01 2009 From: edwhyman at hotmail.com (edwhyman@hotmail.com) Date: Sun Jan 25 11:56:11 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] Vacation reply In-Reply-To: <20090125165557.6440520F558@music.columbia.edu> Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://music.columbia.edu/pipermail/dorkbotlondon-blabber/attachments/20090125/e85763dc/attachment.html From chris at mungbean.net Sun Jan 25 12:12:46 2009 From: chris at mungbean.net (Chris Hand) Date: Sun Jan 25 12:12:59 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] building a led matrix In-Reply-To: <22a9ac850901250855j480140b0p65cffd595ec915d4@mail.gmail.com> References: <497C9602.20900@gmail.com> <22a9ac850901250855j480140b0p65cffd595ec915d4@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: check out Peggy v2.0 http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/peggy2 "only" 25x25 but the big win is that it's arduino compatible. all open source, PCB designs and schematics etc all downloadable. chris On Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 4:55 PM, Michael Zeltner wrote: > 2009/1/25 Vincent Van Uffelen : >> Also I would appreciate any >> hints to references/building plans available online from which i could start >> off. > > Although I don't know your specific aesthetic requirements, maybe this > helps: http://metalab.at/wiki/Led_Matrix > > Just so you know, it was a collaborative effort and took more than a > year to finish :) At 3456 LEDs, there is loads of potential for > software and hardware bugs ;) > > M > -- > http://niij.org/ > ........................................................................ > .........dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity.......... > ..........................http://dorkbot.org............................ > ........................................................................ > -- Chris Hand http://mungbean.org/blog/ http://mungbean.net/ From jagernot at gmail.com Sun Jan 25 13:25:26 2009 From: jagernot at gmail.com (S Jagannathan) Date: Sun Jan 25 13:25:39 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] industrial robot artist Message-ID: A friend of mine takes pictures of english landscapes and then paints them again in watercolor. He has sold a few for a handsome sum in India where there is an enduring fascination for english landscapes and countryside. I told him that this way of working was a bit of a cop out for a human being to do. He said it was just my view. Now I think why not have an industrial robot (like the ones in car factories) do the same thing. It would be fitted with a digicam which will take a picture of the landscape, it would then mix paints based on what my color processing program would provide and then paint it on the canvas scaled appropriately to the image. This robot could be positioned at a suitable vantage point in the landscape, powered by solar/wind power and left to get on with it. People could watch it go about making the painting. The painting could be sold to fund the project. The robot could travel all around the world.... I posted this 'idea' at reddit and got cermoniously voted down to -0 points. :D But some people gave useful answers. I summarise: 1. the idea is not bad :D 2. industrial robots dont have APIs cos a bad function call or error in input can kill the programmer :D (or worse people who are watching) 3. build the robot yourself 4. see lynxmotion. 5. industrial robots are expensive and they dont sell to artists etc. I would like to still go with industrial robots cos somehow I like their huge size and to program them to become, say introspective, when making a painting appeals to me. But Im not too hung up about them either. Buillding a robot is the 2nd best alternative but I am a total zero in robotics. I would be delighted if any of you is interested either to build it or with further ideas. arduino etc? I'm not too happy with lynxmotion l6 robot arm as its readily only supported in windows while i would like to base the project in linux. I dont know if its holder can be changed to a painting brush. Otherwise the robot appears great - it has an anthromorphic ...to it that i like...maybe it can be a model for self-build. Yes I would love to hear any ideas you may have, contacts in car factories or industrial robot companies or if you have a disused industrial robot lying around in your garage..... :D let me know ---jag 2009/1/25 Chris Hand : > check out Peggy v2.0 http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/peggy2 > > "only" 25x25 but the big win is that it's arduino compatible. > > all open source, PCB designs and schematics etc all downloadable. > > > chris > > > On Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 4:55 PM, Michael Zeltner wrote: >> 2009/1/25 Vincent Van Uffelen : >>> Also I would appreciate any >>> hints to references/building plans available online from which i could start >>> off. >> >> Although I don't know your specific aesthetic requirements, maybe this >> helps: http://metalab.at/wiki/Led_Matrix >> >> Just so you know, it was a collaborative effort and took more than a >> year to finish :) At 3456 LEDs, there is loads of potential for >> software and hardware bugs ;) >> >> M >> -- >> http://niij.org/ >> ........................................................................ >> .........dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity.......... >> ..........................http://dorkbot.org............................ >> ........................................................................ >> > > > > -- > Chris Hand > http://mungbean.org/blog/ > http://mungbean.net/ > ........................................................................ > .........dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity.......... > ..........................http://dorkbot.org............................ > ........................................................................ > From nickwoolley at yahoo.co.uk Sun Jan 25 14:06:18 2009 From: nickwoolley at yahoo.co.uk (Nick Woolley) Date: Sun Jan 25 14:06:27 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] building a led matrix In-Reply-To: <497C9602.20900@gmail.com> References: <497C9602.20900@gmail.com> Message-ID: <497CB82A.4090606@yahoo.co.uk> Hello, I'm no digital electronics expert, but I built this hat a while back, and you might be able to do something similar with a bit of patience: http://www.noodlefactory.co.uk/~nick/wu-lee/LedHat It has 1024 LEDs. The hardest (most tedious) part in my case was soldering them onto the hat, because the mesh had to be hand made. (Incidentally, I'd be interested in ideas how to make the mesh part more effectively. And I never did find a convenient source of flexible PCBs.) Since it sounds like you're planning to do it on a conventional PCB, you could steal the basic circuit and have something printed to order. A flat version would be much easier to build - the main non-LED components are four LED drivers and a micro-controller. (I don't have a schematic, but I could send one on a napkin; possibly I might be prodded into drafting a more conventional schematic, since version 2 ought to be built one day.) Cheers, N From mike at electricstuff.co.uk Sun Jan 25 18:36:07 2009 From: mike at electricstuff.co.uk (Mike Harrison) Date: Sun Jan 25 18:37:22 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] building a led matrix In-Reply-To: <497CB82A.4090606@yahoo.co.uk> References: <497C9602.20900@gmail.com> <497CB82A.4090606@yahoo.co.uk> Message-ID: <2otpn4po7q4qshkf3c7i6ra213csg0mmm9@4ax.com> On Sun, 25 Jan 2009 19:06:18 +0000, you wrote: >Hello, > >I'm no digital electronics expert, but I built this hat a while back, >and you might be able to do something similar with a bit of patience: > > http://www.noodlefactory.co.uk/~nick/wu-lee/LedHat > >It has 1024 LEDs. The hardest (most tedious) part in my case was >soldering them onto the hat, because the mesh had to be hand made. >(Incidentally, I'd be interested in ideas how to make the mesh part more >effectively. And I never did find a convenient source of flexible PCBs.) Farnell sell photoresist flex for making your own boards http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=500006+1000161&Ntk=gensearch_001&Ntt=flexible+PCB&Ntx= Commerical flex isn't as expensive as it used to be as it is now typically laser cut instead of die-cut. But still not cheap! From mike at electricstuff.co.uk Sun Jan 25 18:37:53 2009 From: mike at electricstuff.co.uk (Mike Harrison) Date: Sun Jan 25 18:39:04 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] industrial robot artist In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:25:26 +0000, you wrote: >A friend of mine takes pictures of english landscapes and then paints >them again in watercolor. He has sold a few for a handsome sum in >India where there is an enduring fascination for english landscapes >and countryside. I told him that this way of working was a bit of a >cop out for a human being to do. He said it was just my view. Now I >think why not have an industrial robot (like the ones in car >factories) do the same thing. It would be fitted with a digicam which >will take a picture of the landscape, it would then mix paints based >on what my color processing program would provide and then paint it on >the canvas scaled appropriately to the image. This robot could be >positioned at a suitable vantage point in the landscape, powered by >solar/wind power and left to get on with it. People could watch it go >about making the painting. The painting could be sold to fund the >project. The robot could travel all around the world.... > >I posted this 'idea' at reddit and got cermoniously voted down to -0 >points. :D But some people gave useful answers. I summarise: > >1. the idea is not bad :D >2. industrial robots dont have APIs cos a bad function call or error >in input can kill the programmer :D (or worse people who are watching) No, it's so they can sell their proprietary control systems. As long as you are standing outside its reach there is no hazard ( unless you program it to throw things!) >3. build the robot yourself Very hard work, but possible to customise to do only what you need. >4. see lynxmotion. >5. industrial robots are expensive Yes - reliable, robust mechanics are always expensive. >and they dont sell to artists etc. I'm sure they will happily sell to anyone with the money.... They may just need convincing that someone wanting to do this sort of thing isn't a timewaster.... As they are expensive, there will undoubtedly be a second-hand market, but they will still not be cheap. And the above will still apply. From alex at zivanovic.co.uk Sun Jan 25 19:49:12 2009 From: alex at zivanovic.co.uk (Alex Zivanovic) Date: Sun Jan 25 19:48:31 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] industrial robot artist In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <497D0888.40400@zivanovic.co.uk> I worked with a fairly small industrial robot a few years ago. They are: -indeed not cheap (?15K upwards). -You'd have to post a security guard 24/7 to avoid it being pinched. -Big (not just the robot - the control cabinet is about the size of 2 filing cabinets. -They invariably run on 3phase power and use a lot of electricity - you'd need one hell of a wind turbine or field of solar panels. -They are not waterproof - you'd have to build a shelter around it -They need a heavy duty concrete base to sit on. -They are dangerous - you have to build a barrier around it to keep people out its reach with lots of safety interlocks. -Programming is not easy, especially painting. How would you know the brush is loaded properly with paint? Painting is a tactile task, you have to press against the surface with incredible sensitivity. The control would have to be unbelievably good (I used to work on medical robots that did brain surgery - that's easy compared to painting watercolour) Just pay a painter - they're cheap and readily available :-) There are quite a few painting robots around (Hektor, etc) mostly using spray cans. Their output is interesting but nowhere near the quality of watercolour. Alex Z Mike Harrison wrote: > On Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:25:26 +0000, you wrote: > > >> A friend of mine takes pictures of english landscapes and then paints >> them again in watercolor. He has sold a few for a handsome sum in >> India where there is an enduring fascination for english landscapes >> and countryside. I told him that this way of working was a bit of a >> cop out for a human being to do. He said it was just my view. Now I >> think why not have an industrial robot (like the ones in car >> factories) do the same thing. It would be fitted with a digicam which >> will take a picture of the landscape, it would then mix paints based >> on what my color processing program would provide and then paint it on >> the canvas scaled appropriately to the image. This robot could be >> positioned at a suitable vantage point in the landscape, powered by >> solar/wind power and left to get on with it. People could watch it go >> about making the painting. The painting could be sold to fund the >> project. The robot could travel all around the world.... >> >> I posted this 'idea' at reddit and got cermoniously voted down to -0 >> points. :D But some people gave useful answers. I summarise: >> >> 1. the idea is not bad :D >> 2. industrial robots dont have APIs cos a bad function call or error >> in input can kill the programmer :D (or worse people who are watching) >> > > No, it's so they can sell their proprietary control systems. As long as you are standing outside its > reach there is no hazard ( unless you program it to throw things!) > > >> 3. build the robot yourself >> > > Very hard work, but possible to customise to do only what you need. > > >> 4. see lynxmotion. >> 5. industrial robots are expensive >> > > Yes - reliable, robust mechanics are always expensive. > > >> and they dont sell to artists etc. >> > > I'm sure they will happily sell to anyone with the money.... They may just need convincing that > someone wanting to do this sort of thing isn't a timewaster.... > > As they are expensive, there will undoubtedly be a second-hand market, but they will still not be > cheap. And the above will still apply. > > ........................................................................ > .........dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity.......... > ..........................http://dorkbot.org............................ > ........................................................................ > From rob at robmyers.org Mon Jan 26 04:55:55 2009 From: rob at robmyers.org (Rob Myers) Date: Mon Jan 26 04:56:10 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] industrial robot artist In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <7fa25200901260155j344299e3k48e10219a2a0cf53@mail.gmail.com> On Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 6:25 PM, S Jagannathan wrote: > I would like to still go with industrial robots cos somehow I like > their huge size and to program them to become, say introspective, when > making a painting appeals to me. But Im not too hung up about them > either. Historically flat-bed plotters have been used for this sort of thing: http://hebert.kitp.ucsb.edu/studio/plotter-artists.html although AARON was a robot arm on a flatbed for a while: http://www.viewingspace.com/genetics_culture/pages_genetics_culture/gc_w05/cohen_h.htm http://crca.ucsd.edu/~hcohen/ Cohen used fabric paints rather than watercolour. I forget the brand but it's in my notes somewhere. And Hektor would be good inspiration if your clientele get a taste for spraycan art ;-) : http://www.hektor.ch/ - Rob. From alex at slab.org Mon Jan 26 09:42:41 2009 From: alex at slab.org (alex) Date: Mon Jan 26 09:42:59 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] industrial robot artist In-Reply-To: <7fa25200901260155j344299e3k48e10219a2a0cf53@mail.gmail.com> References: <7fa25200901260155j344299e3k48e10219a2a0cf53@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <1232980961.9556.10.camel@duck> Douglas Repetto, the dorkbot forefather made a painting machine: http://music.columbia.edu/~douglas/portfolio/GPM_milano/ alex From r.atwood at imperial.ac.uk Mon Jan 26 11:42:28 2009 From: r.atwood at imperial.ac.uk (Atwood, Robert C) Date: Mon Jan 26 11:44:22 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] industrial robot artist In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <2CB39EAF0E0EFF498ADEDA636B8C999F05CFA6B1@icex1.ic.ac.uk> > -----Original Message----- > Mike Harrison > Sent: 25 January 2009 23:38 > I'm sure they will happily sell to anyone with the money.... > They may just need convincing that > someone wanting to do this sort of thing isn't a timewaster.... Or, the bank or other entity providing the loan to buy it must be convinced of this ! I suppose if you just have the cash on the barrel head they would sell you one. From sharpie7 at pinedragon.com Mon Jan 26 13:43:29 2009 From: sharpie7 at pinedragon.com (Iain Sharp) Date: Mon Jan 26 13:43:43 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] building a led matrix References: <497C9602.20900@gmail.com> <497CB82A.4090606@yahoo.co.uk> <2otpn4po7q4qshkf3c7i6ra213csg0mmm9@4ax.com> Message-ID: <52ECCA2BE929444B9AB8B74FD693C8FA@bigpc> These guys do some pre-made LED matrix boards: http://www.sureelectronics.net/index.php (they also sell on eBay). I was looking at using an LED matrix for my current project, but the conclusion I came to is that they are a complete anachronism now. Unless you really want to "look" of an LED matrix you can get an equalivalently sized LCD monitor for much less ??. I ended up deciding to get a monitor and just use the top quarter and mask off the rest to make a fake LCD matrix! Iain ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Harrison" To: "A discussion list for dorkbot-london" Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 11:36 PM Subject: Re: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] building a led matrix On Sun, 25 Jan 2009 19:06:18 +0000, you wrote: >Hello, > >I'm no digital electronics expert, but I built this hat a while back, >and you might be able to do something similar with a bit of patience: > > http://www.noodlefactory.co.uk/~nick/wu-lee/LedHat > >It has 1024 LEDs. The hardest (most tedious) part in my case was >soldering them onto the hat, because the mesh had to be hand made. >(Incidentally, I'd be interested in ideas how to make the mesh part more >effectively. And I never did find a convenient source of flexible PCBs.) Farnell sell photoresist flex for making your own boards http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=500006+1000161&Ntk=gensearch_001&Ntt=flexible+PCB&Ntx= Commerical flex isn't as expensive as it used to be as it is now typically laser cut instead of die-cut. But still not cheap! ........................................................................ .........dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity.......... ..........................http://dorkbot.org............................ ........................................................................ From sharpie7 at pinedragon.com Mon Jan 26 14:02:38 2009 From: sharpie7 at pinedragon.com (Iain Sharp) Date: Mon Jan 26 14:02:55 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] industrial robot artist References: <7fa25200901260155j344299e3k48e10219a2a0cf53@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <229B1FC84E3747DABADF5908B9BE6084@bigpc> Indeed.Iif you were doing a Jackson Pollock then an industrial robot might be the answer, but water colours are normally rather small. Using something that's designed to move a car door to splash a bit of water on a piece of A5 seemes overkill. Would be a nice piece of theatre though. I would tend to go the other direction - how low tech can you make it? There are lots of designs on the web for "home buildable" three axis machines which could easily be adapted. You could also look at stuff like Lego Mindstorms, or perhaps something like this: http://www.bb-shopping.com/products/Robot-Arm.htm?id=46&subid=146&prodid=3940&curr=&m=1.00 I look forward to the result! Iain ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rob Myers" To: "A discussion list for dorkbot-london" Sent: Monday, January 26, 2009 9:55 AM Subject: Re: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] industrial robot artist > On Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 6:25 PM, S Jagannathan wrote: > >> I would like to still go with industrial robots cos somehow I like >> their huge size and to program them to become, say introspective, when >> making a painting appeals to me. But Im not too hung up about them >> either. > > Historically flat-bed plotters have been used for this sort of thing: > > http://hebert.kitp.ucsb.edu/studio/plotter-artists.html > > although AARON was a robot arm on a flatbed for a while: > > http://www.viewingspace.com/genetics_culture/pages_genetics_culture/gc_w05/cohen_h.htm > http://crca.ucsd.edu/~hcohen/ > > Cohen used fabric paints rather than watercolour. I forget the brand > but it's in my notes somewhere. > > And Hektor would be good inspiration if your clientele get a taste for > spraycan art ;-) : > > http://www.hektor.ch/ > > - Rob. > ........................................................................ > .........dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity.......... > ..........................http://dorkbot.org............................ > ........................................................................ From jagernot at gmail.com Mon Jan 26 14:34:19 2009 From: jagernot at gmail.com (S Jagannathan) Date: Mon Jan 26 14:34:29 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] industrial robot artist In-Reply-To: <497D0888.40400@zivanovic.co.uk> References: <497D0888.40400@zivanovic.co.uk> Message-ID: wow the replies are brilliant. i want to stay away from saying too much to put off ur replies. > -Programming is not easy, especially painting. How would you know the brush > is loaded properly with paint? > Painting is a tactile task, you have to press against the surface with > incredible sensitivity. The control would have to > be unbelievably good (I used to work on medical robots that did brain > surgery - that's easy compared to painting watercolour) > Actually I thought programming was the easier part :) First I think its better to do oil or acrylic instead of watercolor as the former are easier to control for the robot (maybe even the human ;). Paints can be laid out in tubs and mixing paints is color theory - doesnt have to be very accurate - say to get yellow, the robot would mix a dab of red and green. The digicam can be used here - take a pic of the mix and compare with the color wanted and adjust until a close match is obtained. The potential for empathy from an observer is strong here as the robot goes about mixing paints. There will also be a tub of water - the robot will wash its brushes when it wants to mix new colors. The robot positions the brush before the digicam, the digicam takes a picture and the picture is compared with a 'clean' picture to decide how 'dirty' the brush is and dabbed in water and repeated until its clean. Of course some debugging will be involved. From novazembla at gmail.com Mon Jan 26 15:06:59 2009 From: novazembla at gmail.com (Vincent Van Uffelen) Date: Mon Jan 26 15:07:11 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] building a led matrix In-Reply-To: References: <497C9602.20900@gmail.com> <22a9ac850901250855j480140b0p65cffd595ec915d4@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <497E17E3.9000601@gmail.com> thanks chris, 25 x 25 are already quite a lot of led to solder ... love also that it is arduino compatible, but playing video would be so great. maybe a faster controller could be used, will try to start this venture. \\vincent Chris Hand wrote: > check out Peggy v2.0 http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/peggy2 > > "only" 25x25 but the big win is that it's arduino compatible. > > all open source, PCB designs and schematics etc all downloadable. > > > chris > > > On Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 4:55 PM, Michael Zeltner wrote: > >> 2009/1/25 Vincent Van Uffelen : >> >>> Also I would appreciate any >>> hints to references/building plans available online from which i could start >>> off. >>> >> Although I don't know your specific aesthetic requirements, maybe this >> helps: http://metalab.at/wiki/Led_Matrix >> >> Just so you know, it was a collaborative effort and took more than a >> year to finish :) At 3456 LEDs, there is loads of potential for >> software and hardware bugs ;) >> >> M >> -- >> http://niij.org/ >> ........................................................................ >> .........dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity.......... >> ..........................http://dorkbot.org............................ >> ........................................................................ >> >> > > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://music.columbia.edu/pipermail/dorkbotlondon-blabber/attachments/20090126/0773d259/attachment.html From ben at ben2.com Mon Jan 26 23:36:32 2009 From: ben at ben2.com (Ben Godfrey) Date: Mon Jan 26 23:36:54 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] industrial robot artist In-Reply-To: <7fa25200901260155j344299e3k48e10219a2a0cf53@mail.gmail.com> References: <7fa25200901260155j344299e3k48e10219a2a0cf53@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Hektor is incredibly cool. I'd be really interested to help in a project to build a Hektor from commodity parts and release plans and software open source. I've contacted the creators of Hektor to see what their thoughts are. Anyone else interested in such a project? I'm a software guy, so it would be cool to work with some people with hardware experience. The deliverable would be a complete resource (document or web site) describing construction and operation of a Hektor-like portable graffiti robot controllable built from inexpensive commodity parts (e.g. Arduino) and controllable from open source software running on any USB capable computer (Win/Lin/Mac) and at least one complete device. Presumably, if the device was based on an Arduino, the software task would be a case of getting the line and filling algorithms etc into a re-usable form (e.g. module for your favourite programming language). Ben On 26 Jan 2009, at 17:55, Rob Myers wrote: > And Hektor would be good inspiration if your clientele get a taste for > spraycan art ;-) : > > http://www.hektor.ch/ -- Ben Godfrey, Wandering Hacker http://aftnn.org | http://twitter.com/afternoon | http://www.linkedin.com/in/bengodfrey http://electroniclondon.com/ - London electronic music meet-up -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://music.columbia.edu/pipermail/dorkbotlondon-blabber/attachments/20090127/707a3acc/attachment-0001.html From alex at zivanovic.co.uk Tue Jan 27 09:10:29 2009 From: alex at zivanovic.co.uk (Aleksandar Zivanovic) Date: Tue Jan 27 08:56:40 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] [Fwd: hacker space in london] Message-ID: <497F15D5.50707@zivanovic.co.uk> http://groups.google.com/group/london-hack-space Alex Z From stutterer at linuxmail.org Thu Jan 29 07:52:16 2009 From: stutterer at linuxmail.org (jonni jemp) Date: Thu Jan 29 07:52:30 2009 Subject: [dorkbotlondon-blabber] looking for ppl for paid cover in London for small gig Message-ID: <20090129125216.CF9EF4402A@ws5-5.us4.outblaze.com> please respond directly to Julian Oliver From: Julian Oliver To: p1k53l workshop Subject: // [OT] looking for ppl in London for small gig // Driving: Debian GNU/Linux hi, i've been asked to present some software i wrote to an organisation in London but cannot be there to do it myself. so, i'm looking for someone in London: - has a Debian >= Etch or Ubuntu >= 7.10 install - doesn't run screaming from compiler output - has a machine with: * hardware 3D rendering on a class 2 or better graphics card: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Graphic-Cards.130.0.html * >= Intel Core Duo 2Ghz CPU - is free on a weekday in the second week of February. the job involves setting up the machine on a projector, adjusting a couple of lights and leaving the machine there for a day while the organisation uses it. there's no need to stick around or talk about the software beyond a casual description of how it works. i can offer a fee of ?150 for the gig. if able and interested, contact me off-list. cheers! -- Julian Oliver home: New Zealand based: Madrid, Spain currently: Berlin, Germany about: http://julianoliver.com http://xxxxx.1010.co.uk http://www.1010.co.uk