Robot Monkeys

This past weekend, Ming and I planted a couple of tomato plants in pots to grow. As part of the fun, we’re keeping a log of how fast the plants grow. Doing this has given me flashbacks to LDEF SEEDS experiment which involved both school children and “real” scientists growing tomatoes that were exposed to the radiation of space for almost six years. (FYI: Space seeds had higher germination rates, but tasted the same as Earth tomatoes.)

While thinking about plant growth rates, I came across Natural Selection by Tom Simpson of Studio Lithero. It is perhaps the most boring death race ever. (Actually, it’s pretty cool sped up.) Three plants enter. One plant leaves (HA!), and becomes president. Sensors at the top of the stand trigger cutters at the bottom.

Makes me want to breed some sort of super plant, á la the Russiansilver fox experiment.

Next Wednesday and Thursday, (Feb 17-18), at the DNA Lounge (“A disorderly house injurious to the public welfare and morals”) (375 Eleventh St; SF) is BarBot 2010. Tickets are $10 advance, $15 day of show.

Come out and have iZac pour you a fuzzy navel, and the girliest drink in the house!

Last night was DorkbotSF 47 at TCHO. There were three speakers, Timothy Childs, founder of TCHO, talking about how they quantify chocolate and make small testing labs for the Peruvian jungle; Michael Ang (aka Mang) showing off some of his work like Strange Attractor, artificial flowers to attract butterflies, and Blue Flower, yet another LED flower. The highlight of the evening though was Mark Pauline of SRL revealing his plans to build an 8 foot spine robot with a spike on the end. The evening was streamed, so definitely watch Mark’s critique of other spine robots that have been built. It’s around 51:00.

Survival Research Labs wants volunteers. They’re looking for pretty much anything.

I saw an SRL performance at Zero1 back in 2006, “Ghostly Scenese of Infernal Desecration (Formally: Six Flags Over Hell).” It was very loud, and after the show, I dumbstruck. I remember walking back to the car thinking, “What the hell did I just see?” It was “interesting,” and I recommend it to anyone. (Video of the show after the jump.)

If SRL wasn’t in Petaluma, I would totally join.

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In the 1970s the Soviet government, built a series of lighthouses around the Arctic Circle to aid in navigation. Since these were built in the most godforsaken parts of Siberia, they were not only automated, but nuclear powered. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, people began to strip them for metal, including the radiation shielding.

When I read about this. I couldn’t help but think of Russia’s floating nuclear power plants, perhaps plying the seas past the lighthouses.

But, what I really think of when I see the sea ravaged edifice is something out of a Life Without People episode. Nuclear powered autonomous lighthouses guiding nuclear powered autonomous ships to ports, where where they are loaded with ore from continuous conveyors, that are supplied by autonomous freight trains, until the day that there’s just nothing left to load on the trains, or on the ships, and the entire system shuts down and rusts.

via JWZ

The Play Coalition created Plantbot, a servo powered planter. The idea is that the planter continuously tracks the sun, ensuring that the plant get maximal sunlight.

My initial impression was that this was a really cool idea, but when I started thinking about it, it seems like yet another one of those ideas that are utterly impractical. I mean, do you really want furniture that constantly moves? Well I guess a dog is kind of like that, but it doesn’t immediately back to the same place. In all honesty though, that’s an engineering problem. An accelerometer to detect pickup and not move for some time after being placed back down. I guess the other thing is having it move back to its original position each morning. Well, I guess that’s just a search pattern. So, I guess none of this is that big of a problem.

Adafruit links to Peter Sand’s Fast Planting. (Alas, the video is broken.) Fast Planting is a track mounted robot for tending an herb garden. The cursor moves across and grabs interchangeable tool heads to plant, water, and trim the plants. Completely over engineered. ;)

Festo, a German robotics company, has unveiled yet another of their mesmerizing biologically inspired creations, AquaPenguin (Not to be confused with AirPenguin.) (Autoplay (bleh!) video after the jump.) You may remember Festo from their robotic jellyfish AirJelly and AquaJelly. (Videos of these also after the jump.)

Festo creates these as part of their Bionic Learning Network. This project models natural animal systems in an effort to develop lightweight, and energy efficient designs for manipulators and locomotion. As a side effect of this research, Festo creates these robots in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach.

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La Machine is currently in Yokohama for the 150th anniversary of the Port of Yokohama (April 28 through September 27), with their £1.8 million Giant Spider of Doom. This is the second appearance of the spider. Previously, it appeared at Liverpool’s Capital Of Culture 2008.

Also from La Machine: The Sultan Elephant

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Dorkbot SF is tonight at the Hat Factory (801 Minnesota St #08, SF)

SHDH 31 is this Saturday (March 14) at the Rainbow Mansion (21677 Rainbow Drive, Cupertino).

This Friday at the Opulent Temple (200 California Ave, Treasure Island, SF), the Flaming Lotus Girls are holding a fundraiser. ($20 pre-sale) Lasers, music, and the Serpent Mother.