Here's the video for the talk I gave on Tuesday.  I give an overview of Dorkbot and DorkbotPDX and discuss the kinds of things we do.

I gave a talk today at Christof Teuscher's Nuts and Bold Seminar about DorkbotPDX and what we've been up to.  The slides are available here:

http://goo.gl/yyIuV

or for those who don't do google:

http://dorkbotpdx.org/files/DorkbotPDX%20...%20Teuscher%20Lab.pdf

Thanks to everybody who showed up and contributed!

There are some images here....

What?

I'm trying out a new drop in replacement editor for Drupal.  Trying to get my head around what this means and what to think about it, but I think it's mostly good.

I built a small battery-powered amplifier today.

Not too long ago, I bought a small, inexpensive amplifier kit from tindie.

I partially wanted to test the tindie waters and support the cause (since it's such a great idea), but I also figured I could kill two additional birds with this buy-build-a-kit-stone:

1. Get a small battery-powered (read: safe) and portable amplifier going to support circuit bending.
2. Teach a 5-year old how to solder.

Concept

This is a natural extension of the Exquisite Corpse form of drawing/painting/writing/film into electromechanical form.

Implementation

1 piece. 12 collaborators. 12 months.

The Philosophy

• Equal parts creativity and geekery!
• Do no harm.
  • Work of one collaborator should build upon and not degrade the work of the previous collaborators
  • Caveat: Unless absolutely necessary, which should be a very rare exception indeed.
• Assert an aesthetic!
  • Provoke emotion, stimulate many senses.
• Embrace raw, nontechnical materials.
  • Fabric, paint, repurposed tech, biological materials, scrap, found items, etc, etc.
• Be robust and make it work.
  • We achieve implementations that lasts a long time.
  • Interaction is swell, but don't require it (humans are unreliable)
• Document extensively and provoke inspiration.
  • But keep it private before the ceiling.

Constraints/Logistics

• Each collaborator should use approximately 1/12th (0.0833) of the available pre-setup (constrained) space.
• When the work is passed from one collaborator to the next, the moment is referred to as a "boundary".
• When the final contributor's work period has expired, the moment itself and the final work are referred to as the "ceiling".
• Each collaborator is given a fixed work time of exactly one month. Boundaries always occur on the first of the month.
• Prior to a boundary, upcoming collaborators must not view the work nor its documentation.
• At each boundary and at the ceiling, the work must:
  • Fit into a large plastic storage tote (of a size determined before the first boundary)
  • Be able to be set up, configured, and activated by a nontechnical person with brief instructions in under 10 minutes.
• After a boundary, previous collaborators must not contribute to the work (except for repair, which should be a very exceptional case indeed).
• All materials/components contributed to the work by all contributor are considered final and may not be reclaimed.
• The ceiling is equally owned by and credited to the collective contributors.

Schedule

The schedule is now full.

• January : [COMPLETED: Jason Plumb]
• February: [COMPLETED: Colin Oldham]
• March: [COMPLETED: Don Davis]
• April: [COMPLETED: Brian Richardson]
• May: [COMPLETED: Michael Bunsen]
• June: [COMPLETED: Jon Garrison]
• July: [COMPLETED: Andrew Parnell]
• August: [COMPLETED: Libbey White]
• September: [COMPLETED: Mike Gilbert]
• October: [COMPLETED: Austin Whipple]
• November: [COMPLETED: Jim Eastman]
• December: [COMPLETED: Erik Lane]

FAQ

• How can I apply to participate?
  Unfortunately, the schedule for 2012 is currently full.
• How do I know if I'm skilled enough?
  You are, don't worry. Basic skill with building electronics is encouraged, but you also have a month to refine your skills and get help.
• Can others help me?
  Sure, but they may not directly work on the exquisite corpse if they are past or future contributors. When getting assistance from others, you won't be disclosing details of the work.
• What if I'm not in Portland?
  Sorry, you must live in the Portland metro area (suburbs ok) to contribute.
• Is there going to be another one?
  Probably, if there's interest! Let me know if you're interested in another go around.

The Styloid Process gallery has posted some setup and opening night photos from the recent Dorkbot group show:

Enjoy!
http://styloid-process.com/?page_id=202

Thanks again to Janiece for offering up her gallery and hosting, and a major thanks to everybody that contributed work for the show!

Tonight I...

• ...rode a bicycle across two bridges.
• ...was approached by a man and a woman (both strangers) and was told "we wish to join the cult".
• ...witnessed a man tapping a plastic pad connected to a tangle of circuits and wires and causing a drum sound to be played.
• ...saw a pair of multicolor robot eyeballs glowing on a tabletop
• ...witnessed a middle-aged man covered in a mass of glowing LEDs and EL wire.
• ...listened to the sound of a cello convolved with the impulse response from a wooden door.
• ...helped a woman field test a subversive, covert anti-television teddy bear implant prototype.
• ...watched a slot car adjust its speed in response to a computer's system load average.
• ...was in good company.

Dorkbot. <3

As promised, here's a video demonstration of the Ghetto Drum retrofit with USB MIDI: