We were just starting to wonder exactly what we’re going to do with our old collection of cassette tapes, and then along comes art robotics to the rescue!
Russian tech artist [::vtol::] came up with another unique device to make us smile. This time, it’s a small remote-controlled, two-wheeled robot. It could almost be a line follower, but instead of detecting the cassette tapes that criss-cross over the floor, it plays whatever it passes by, using two spring-mounted tape heads. Check it out in action in the video below.
Some of the tapes are audiobooks by sci-fi author [Stanislaw Lem] (whom we recommend!), while others are just found tapes. Want to find out what’s on them? Just drive.
We’ve featured [::vtol::]’s work before, which ranges from the conceptual, like this piece that broadcasts poetry in successive BSSIDs from what amounts to a cultured WiFi throwie, to the beautiful, like this visualization of brainwaves using ferrofluid and antifreeze.
… should make it a line-following robot and have the line be made out of audio tape.. would be a much simpler design
Odly enough, I wrote [::vtol::] and said just as much. His original version was a line follower, and he added the remote control because it would just keep going in a straight line, and he wanted to keep it portable.
Now, a somewhat glitchy line follower might be neat. Or with edge detection so that it can stay on the surface. Or…
This pushes my silly meter right to the limit in a good way.
I like it. HaD, where the only limit is your imagination!
Nice project. Never seen an AtariPunk robot before!
Btw, Stanislaw Lem is one of the best Sci-Fi writers I ever read, and his books are awesome! Some like Cyberiad and the tales of Pirx the Pilot are fun while some other like Solaris are deep and philosophical. Some english translations are very stylish, using antique words and expressions which worth the time spent to figure them out!
I have only read Cyberiad but marveled at the translation, the extensive wordplay must have been very difficult to maintain.
Turing machine.
nice
Something Laurie Anderson about it. A new musical genre in the making, even.