The Art of Motion Control

April 26, 2007 8:39 PM

Bruce Shapiro builds wonderful art using industrial motors and actuators. Examples: a sand plotter, A bubble display, and a dancing ribbon (2M WMV). [via Make]
posted by pombe (7 comments total)

I love the sand plotter, and the bubble display is better served with photos like this.

Cool post!
posted by Eekacat at 9:09 PM on April 26, 2007

Cool stuff, thanks!
posted by amyms at 9:33 PM on April 26, 2007

Thanks for this post pombe. Nice find. I love his work and ideas. The sand plotter is lovely. Short YouTube videos of his Ribbon Dancer. I've always enjoyed those dancing ribbons Chinese gymnasts use and now also rhythm gymnasts. A sublime, floating geometry. An 18 minute lecture he gives on his play between art and science, quite interesting.
posted by nickyskye at 9:56 PM on April 26, 2007

This guy is in Minneapolis, I've seen this site before - but I couldn't remember details! Thanks so much for posting it. I need to get together with him and have some shop talk!
posted by EricGjerde at 5:39 AM on April 27, 2007

The bubble display pictured is in the Minneapolis Science Museum. Sadly, when I saw it a few months ago, it was badly out of adjustment, with bubbles stacking up on each other and flowing up at different rates.. making the effect no longer impressive. The first time I saw it, it was working much better, and was good for nearly an hour of entertainment.
posted by rubin at 9:30 AM on April 27, 2007

also cool is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHcV8vZ96OM
posted by pantsrobot at 5:05 PM on April 27, 2007

There's a sand plotter in the Exploratorium in San Francisco (don't know whether it will be a permanent exhibit, though) and it's quite mesmerizing to watch. The path of the steel ball is simpler than the pattern it leaves in the sand, which develops beautiful complexity as the ridges of sand pile up and intersect.

Thanks for the neat post!
posted by Quietgal at 6:40 PM on April 27, 2007