Comments on: The Art of Motion Control

The Art of Motion Control

pombe — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 20:39:52 -0800

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]

By: Eekacat

Eekacat — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 21:09:54 -0800

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

By: amyms

amyms — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 21:33:19 -0800

Cool stuff, thanks!

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 21:56:23 -0800

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.

By: EricGjerde

EricGjerde — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 05:39:04 -0800

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!

By: rubin

rubin — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 09:30:58 -0800

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.

By: pantsrobot

pantsrobot — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 17:05:25 -0800

also cool is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHcV8vZ96OM

By: Quietgal

Quietgal — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 18:40:46 -0800

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!