The Automata / Automaton Blog

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2010-04-24T15:24:00.001-04:00

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El Toro - motorized bullfighter and bull tin toy

2010-04-24T12:52:00.003-04:00

Here's an unusual -- and perhaps a somewhat grim -- vintage tin toy depicting a matador and bull. I'm not entirely sure in what ways the figures move, but it seems like it has some interesting possibilities.

From the eBay item description:

This El Toro snorting bull and matador is in totally unused condition and has its original box. No paint damage at all on this and no corrosion within the battery compartment. This toy was working perfectly when I put it in store with rest of the collection some 25-30 years ago. I put a battery in it but it’s not responding. I guess this is an easy fix but I don’t want to force anything. The box is a little stained – please see pictures – and the base has some damage but, apart from a little creasing, the lid is fine with great graphics. Assembled, the toy is around 6 inches high.

Here's the eBay listing with additional photographs of the El Toro - motorized bullfighter tin toy automaton

Site featuring top 10 unbelievable miniatures

2010-04-23T10:17:00.004-04:00

Check out this site with a bunch of cool miniatures!

[ Thanks Julia! ]

Hands-free bird puppets by Axtell Expressions

2010-04-22T07:17:00.000-04:00

Check out this amazing "hands-free" remote-controlled puppet. A very small remote control is used to open and close the bird's mouth. Another button turns the puppet's head to face the audience or the ventriloquist. It even has a sort of "cruise control" mode in which the bird moves about in a subtle but lifelike manner, allowing the puppeteer to focus on other things or to work with multiple puppets at the same time.

Here is a link where you can learn more and see a full show featuring the Axtell Expressions hands-free bird puppet.

Build your own obstacle-avoiding beetle robot

2010-04-21T11:04:00.004-04:00

Why not build a capable little beetle robot that can scurry about and avoid obstacles? The really cool thing about it is that the behavior is all hard-wired and/or mechanical -- no computer or programming required. The parts are easy to find too!

Here's a link to the Instructable on How to Build The BeetleBot.

Article on Bay Area kinetic sculptor Nemo Gould

2010-04-20T09:08:00.003-04:00

The Daily Californian recently ran a nice article on kinetic sculptor Nemo Gould.

From the article:
Gould's sculptures utilize nearly all "found" articles, synthesizing discarded objects and forgotten antiques with mechanical movement. Bringing art and technology together in whimsical sculptures, Gould pulls from science fiction and comic book mythology from when he was a little boy. For all his professional, eloquent articulation of what his work represents, Nemo Gould is at play in his studio-infusing his anthropomorphic figures with child-like imagination. With sincerity and a smirk, Gould declares, "I take silly very seriously."

Here is a link the full article on Nemo Gould at The Daily Californian.

Fingers - motorized mechanical sculpture

2010-04-19T09:15:00.002-04:00

A great little video of the mechanical fingers designed by mechanical sculptor Nik Ramage and manufactured by Laikingland.

Here is where you can learn more about Fingers by Nik Ramage.

Designing Automata Kit available from Amazon

2010-04-18T08:31:00.001-04:00

OK...it may be a round-about route, but it is good news in the end: the Designing Automata Kit is now available via Amazon!

From the product description:
"The New Designing Automata Kit is great value and fantastic quality. No glue or tools are required, and you will learn about simple mechanics using cams and a crank slider mechanism. Many different designs can be made, and the kit used over and over again. Produced in Thailand using chemical-free rubber wood, from sustainable sources."

Here's the link to the Designing Automata Kit.

Micro Mosquito 3.0 Channel R/C Helicopter

2010-04-17T08:16:00.000-04:00

Yet another tiny indoor helicopter. Each generation claims to be more stable and easier to fly. Mine you, I can't verify this personally. (Dear Toy Companies: Send me one of everything cool and mechanical. Thank you.)

From the product description:

The Micro Mosquito 3.0 Channel R/C Helicopter is the world's smallest, most stable, lightest indoor helicopter. Flies forward with full control as well as up, down, left and right and has a long 7-minute in-flight time on only a 35-minute charge. Two frequencies available. Comes with everything you need to be flying within minutes including a radio control transmitter, flight battery and manual. Requires 6 "C" batteries and one 9V battery, not included. Measures approximately 5".

Here Amazon's page for the Micro Mosquito 3.0 Channel R/C Helicopter

Antique musical singing bird music box automaton

2010-04-16T16:41:00.002-04:00

Take a look at this beautiful antique singing bird box from the 1920s made by German maker by Karl Griesbaum.

From the eBay description:

The multi-colored, full-feathered bird flutters his wings, turns from side to side, opens and closes his beak, all the while singing his song in full voice. A bird-shaped brass key is included.

Here is the full eBay listing with many more photos of this antique singing bird automaton

A mechanically clever, but downright creepy toy

2010-04-15T10:00:00.003-04:00

The folks over at The Weirdo Toys Blog, discovered this unusual mechanical toy. The toy makes use of those odd rubber finger puppet faces. The interchangeable faces are mounted on motorized "fingers" located on the figure's head. The range of expression created by this arrangement is truly disturbing. Add a raised axe in one hand and the tune "When the Saints go Marching in" and you have yourself one very hard-to-explain toy.

Here's a comprehensive write-up with additional videos on the Magic Monster on the The Weirdo Toys Blog.

[ Thanks Bob! ]

Video about how modern robots relate to karakuri

2010-04-14T12:41:00.003-04:00

This video explores how modern Japanese robots share a lineage with ancient mechanical dolls.

[ Thanks Thomas! ]

New encased motorized automata by Tom Haney

2010-04-13T07:11:00.000-04:00

Here is one of two new pieces available from Tom Haney.

The one shown here, entitled "Wanderlust", depicts a figure standing next to a globe. As the globe turns the man's pointer moves across the surface in search of his next destination. The globe stops at random spots every 5 seconds and the figure's head follows the pointer up and down the globe.

See more pictures and video of Tom Haney's Wanderlust automaton on his web site.

Robots secretly living among us as stuffed animals

2010-04-12T06:35:00.002-04:00

I posted not long ago about an artist who refits stuffed animals with metal exoskeletons. Industrial designer Matt Kirkland has created an excellent photo set in which he uncovers the robots hidden beneath plush toy exteriors.

From Matt Kirkland's site:

I've always been curious about stuffed animals that sing, dance, light up, or talk back. There must be a fascinating robot underneath the fur and fluff, right? Surely the robot hiding in the bear's clothing, vestimentis ursum, is impressive. So: armed with my childish curiosity and the spurious excuse of 'product design research,' I set out to discover what, exactly, these creatures are hiding.

Here is a link to the photo set of the robots beneath the fluff.

[ Thanks Bob! ]

DIY hand-cranked geared string winding machine

2010-04-11T11:38:00.005-04:00

One dedicated reader of The Autoamta / Automaton Blog made this cool prototype string-winder contraption. It makes a center-pull ball of string with a diamond pattern. To generate the gear profiles, he used Matthias Wandel's Gear Template Generator.

Here is a nice schematic drawing of the device followed by an explanation.

From bhaaluu's description:

The hand-crank turns a 30-tooth peg-wheel gear which drives a 10-tooth peg wheel gear. The 10-tooth peg-wheel gear spins on a fixed vertical shaft. connected via a wooden tube to the spindle head, which rotates at a 3:1 ratio. At the top of the fixed vertical shaft is a 15-tooth spur gear. It is fixed to the vertical shaft and doesn't move. At the base of the spindle tube is a 42-tooth spur gear which rotates on it's own axis, which is tilted at an angle. As the spindle tube rotates around the vertical shaft, the 42-tooth spur gear rotates. The spindle tube, a heavy-walled cardboard tube, is connected to the 42-tooth spur gear, so every time it turns around the fixed vertical shaft, it rotates. This is what gives the diamond pattern. This string winding contraption is a prototype.

[ Thanks bhaaluu! ]

Solar Powered Kinetic Animal Sculptures

2010-04-10T14:34:00.000-04:00

Enjoy this mesmerizing mechanical sculpture inspired by the large scale works of Theo Jansen.

EL CONDOR PASA - hand-cranked bird automaton

2010-04-09T14:40:00.004-04:00

Check out this charming automaton by retired civil engineer Roberto LouMa.

See more of his work on his YouTube page.

Wind-up Meccano bird sculpture by Aaron Ristau

2010-04-08T07:58:00.004-04:00

Check out this automata sculpture by Aaron Ristau made from Meccano toy parts! The bird bodies are parts from antique hair curlers and the wings made of Mylar. A crank allows you to wind-up the device which will run for about a minute.

See more great sculptures by Aaron Ristau at aaronristau.com.

An ancient mechanical genius you may NOT know

2010-04-07T07:51:00.004-04:00

We have all heard the great inventors of antiquity such as Archimedes and Hero. Here is another name worth knowing: Al-Jazari. Al-Jazari was an scholar, inventor, engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Mesopotamia, who lived from about 1136 to 1206. He wrote The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, which describes some fifty sophisticated machines.

The video clip shown here from Ancient Discoveries covers Al-Jazari's elephant clock -- a fantastically elaborate device which employed automata. There are a working reproductions of the elephant clock in Dubai and Switzerland.

Here is the Wikipedia article for Al Jazari. Here is the article on the elephant clock.

Wallingford clock at St Albans Cathedral (England)

2010-04-06T07:56:00.007-04:00

At St. Albans Cathedral they have made a replica of the 14th Century clock and astronomical indicator designed and built by Richard of Wallingford. It takes 18 years to complete full cycle! When it was created, Richard's clock was probably the most complex clock in the British isles -- and among the most sophisticated anywhere.

Here is a web site dedicated to the Wallingford clock at St. Albans Cathedral.

Wood and ball bearing version of classic karakuri

2010-04-05T08:01:00.003-04:00

Check out Osamu Kanda's modern update to the classic tumbling karakuri figure. He has made the figure out of wood and loaded it with ball bearings to serve as the shifting internal weight.

Kinetic sculpture talk & exhibit by Brad Litwin

2010-04-04T09:04:00.004-04:00

Philadelphia based, kinetic sculptor, Bradley N. Litwin, will give a multimedia presentation about the evolution of his sculptural work. He will also be displaying of several pieces -- some not yet seen in public.

The event takes place at the Cheltenham Center for the Arts, held and sponsored by the Artists’ Cultural Exchange (ACX). Admission is free.

Date: 04/06/2010
Time: 7:00 PM
Location:
Cheltenham Center for the Arts
439 Ashbourne Road
Cheltenham, Pennsylvania 19012

For more info: www.cheltenhamarts.org

DVD with episode featuring maker Ernie Fosselius

2010-04-03T10:48:00.003-04:00

Some time ago, I did a post about automata-maker Ernie Fosselius. The ever-resourceful Charles Mak found a DVD which features Ernie Fosselius in one of its half hour episode.

About the DVD:
No Rest in the Northwest (Season 11- 2006)
"In theses six half-hour shows produced for Kansas City Public Television, you’ll roll over the Rockies and to the woods. See the Gilgal Sculpture Garden in Utah, Cleo’s Ferry Museum in Idaho, Portland Oregon’s Velveteria and the Walker Rock Gardens in Seattle. Meet self-taught California artists like Ernie Fosselius, Dr. Ken Fox and Patrick Amiot, plus much, much more. Contains 6 complete episodes, outtakes, special bonus material, and a snappy music video! Price: $19.95"

Here's a link where you can buy the DVD featuring Ernie Fosselius.

[ Thanks Charles! ]

Lecture: A Brief History of Automata

2010-04-02T16:59:00.004-04:00

If you will be in the NYC area on April 14th, this looks like a fascinating lecture and demonstration...

About this lecture:
"In this illustrated lecture, "Obscura Antique and Oddities", Mike Zohn will demonstrate his 19th Century taxidermy automata, as featured in last year’s Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest. He will explain its curious mechanisms, and, in an illustrated lecture, will introduce us to the history of these fascinating uncanny machines, tracing their trajectory from tools of religious coercion to prince’s plaything to Disney’s imagineering experiments."

Lecture: A Brief History of Automata
Lecturer: Mike Zohn, Obscura Antiques and Oddities
Date: Wednesday, April 14th
Time: 7:00 PM
Admission: $5
Location: Coney Island Museum, 1208 Surf Ave. Brooklyn

Here is a link to more information from the lecture announcement.

[ Thanks Caleb! ]

Leonardo's Machines: Da Vinci's Inventions Revealed

2010-04-01T07:25:00.000-04:00

Here is a highly-rated book that explores Leonardo's inventions from flying, hydraulic, war, and theatrical machines to musical instruments. This uses Leonardo's orginal artwork and annotated computer diagrams to show how each of his inventions might would have worked.

It seems to be out-of-print, but can be found used at Amazon. Here's a link to Leonardo's Machines: Da Vinci's Inventions Revealed