CONTESTS & EVENTS
BOTS
ON THE ROCKS
Roboexotica has been partying with cocktail robots
since 1999. Somebody needs to “document the
increasing occurrence of radical hedonism in
man-machine communication,” right?
This collective of Austria-based makers hosts an
annual festival devoted to bots that make drinks, complete with a symposium to explore the implications, an
award for top bot, and workshops for those interested
in building their own. What’s not to love? roboexotica.org
—GM
Whether or not you think robots can make art, there’s
no denying the artistry of Harvey Moon’s Drawing Robot.
This wall-mounted, computer-controlled bot analyzes
and re-creates images in pen. Ranging from intricate
geometric patterns to beautiful portraits, the drawings
resemble those of a futuristic Etch A Sketch and sometimes take weeks to complete.
Moon went to kickstarter.com to fund his second,
more versatile prototype, and pledges exceeded his goal
of $450 by almost $2,700. Check out more details and
robot art at unanything.com. —Craig Couden
Art Hacks
DIY UNDERWATER
EXPLORATION
Dying for undersea adventures? Like robotic vehicles?
Then check out the National
Underwater Robotics
Challenge, where student
teams of all ages compete
in mock undersea missions
with DIY ROVs.
For more practical applications, check out OpenROV, a
DIY telerobotics community.
Group members built a spe-lunking rover equipped with
an HD webcam and Arduino
microcontroller connected to
the surface via USB. openrov.
com and h2orobots.org
—CC
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