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Design Inspiration for the Inventive Mind..

June 2, 2013 By Zog

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2013 – Arcata – Ferndale

Humboldt County’s annual Kinetic Sculpture Race started off this year with unseasonably nice weather, with the throngs being shamed by the stigma of getting a sunburn in Humboldt County, a feat normally accomplished only by the most pallid of individuals.

Animated SculptureThe above entry may look familiar, but it is not a rework of last year’s entry, it was there in addition. They are both beautifully animated and controlled by the pilots. These things were definitely a favorite, especially of the children, and if they can continue to produce more, I think they could become an attraction all on their own.

Lady Luck kinetic sculpture

The HMS Lady Luck is an interesting piece of engineering as well as sculpture and performance art. The mast seemed to be worked in as a steering system rather than a method of propulsion, and the many sideways people providing propulsion you may remember from previous incarnations like Gloryopolis and Classical Nudes.

Post -apocalyptic Cockroach

The Post-Apocalyptic Cockroach won some awards for speed and engineering. I don’t know about the apocalypse, but it looks like the pilots could survive a massive hailstorm with nothing but hearing damage. I’ve seen those tires in an local outdoor store and they look huge on a bicycle, but I think they must be much more efficient on the road than the much bigger tires of most of the competition. I saw them at the bottom of Dead Man’s drop and they seem to have gotten through all the sand and cliff quickly, which I would have expected to be their biggest challenge.

Duane Flatmo dragon sculpture

I sometimes give the entrants a hard time for not changing their sculptures from year to year, but there are obvious exceptions. Duane Flatmo brought back his fire-breathing Snapdragon and won the Spectator’s Favorite award, a clear sign that the crowds are happy to see it again.

Ant safari sculpture

These guys crack me up. There’s nothing like coming over a hill to find a group of safari guys carrying a giant dead ant up a sand dune to make you feel like you’ve fallen into a parallel universe. I think it is also an odd case of something getting better as it was simplified. They started out with a fire engine, then stuck the ant on top of it, and now took away the fire engine to make what I think is the best of the three.

Mr Fish kinetic 2013

This puffer fish sculpture sponsored by Mr. Fish is a classic which keeps changing species each year.

Amphibious vehicle

I’m putting these guys up as an honorable mention. They’re a bit light on the sculpture, but they look ready to race in style and comfort. If I had to commute several miles a day over land and sea, I think this is how I’d want to travel.

Filed Under: Design Inspiration, Ideas, Innovation Tagged With: Art, Biomimicry, Design Inspiration, Innovation, Kinetic Sculpture Race

May 27, 2012 By Zog

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2012

It’s Kinetic time once again in Arcata California. It was an overcast morning in the end of May. Labor Day weekend. A cold breeze coming in off of the ocean didn’t phase the spectators, who were out in great numbers to see a race  that seemed a bit subdued compared to olden times. The things that impressed me this year were less in the spectacle of it all, and more in the smaller details.

Arcata kinetic 2012

These guys need a bigger dinosaur. It looks like an afterthought. Putting the driver in the back seat is nothing but awesome though.

Fltamo vultures

The above entry, inspired by roadkill and full of vulture pilots, is the work of Duane Flatmo. I don’t personally see his style shining through on this one, but it was my favorite among the larger entries.

Lost Coast Brewery kinetic 2012

Lost Coast Brewery sponsored this fire truck themed fire ant that shoots fire out its arse!

Sasquatch hunterKinetic bigfoot sculpture

Predicting the weather in Arcata is unreliable enough that I’m not sure why we employ meteorologists, but the gamble paid off for this crew. A sunny day racing in a wookie outfit would be hellish, but the icy weather made them look more sane than those in shorts. A tribute to the sasquatch or bigfoot which are rumored to inhabit local forests.

Kinetic Flintstones car

Flintsones car

The one and two seater contestants really made the race this year. I love this FlintStones inspired car. It seemed well engineered and convincing and they weren’t having any trouble getting around. I’m not sure how the steering works.

Kinetic crab scupture

 

This little crab was awesome. Both his arms and claws were fully functional and I have no doubt anything messing with him would have gotten a good pinching. His little eyestalks were on springs.

Hot Chicks in frying pan kinetic

This one ought to be fun in the bay. These two chicks in a frying pan had a jet of fire above their heads.

Dragon deer sculpture

It doesn’t look lime much in photo, but this one impressed me more than any of the others. I’m not sure what the creature on the front is. It is deer-like, but had something dragon-like about it as well. It had a strikingly complex seris of controls operated by the lone driver via several levers.

Kinetic FunGuyKinetic Gnome

Sometimes all it takes is someone going a small extra step in order to bring something from good to great. There were lots of people in mushroom suits racing around, but going with the full body suit with eyeholes makes this guy look like a viable super hero. The above gnome is best seen in motion, since he gets around by bouncing rather than pedaling. To see him and all the rest, check out Bob Doran’s video below of the first two laps around the plaza at the start of the race. In the coming days the race will go through the dunes, across the bay, and all the way down to Ferndale.

Filed Under: Design Inspiration Tagged With: Art, Biomimicry, Design Inspiration, DIY, Kinetic Sculpture Race, Video

October 9, 2011 By Zog

Robotic Bull for the Military

War is about to change in a way not seen since the invention of the missile. DARPA (the defense Department’s advanced research wing) is showing off a scaled up version of Big Dog they are calling Alpha Dog, or Bull Dog. It resembles an actual bull more than any kind of dog, which reminds me of a recent story on adaptive camouflage in which researchers were attaching panels to mask most the infrared signature of tanks, and could project what would look like a walking cow onto the siede of the tank to further remove suspicion. In the case of Alpha dog, rather than projecting the cow on the tank, they seem to be putting the tank in the cow.

More interesting though, is what this says about the ever present arms race. The United States has been the dominant military power in the world, but has had troubles of late with small decentralized terrorist groups. Imagine if they were to convert an auto manufacturer to pump out tens of thousands of weaponized robotic mountain goats. It sounds a bit far fetched, but I don’t see what is stopping them really. Just with the tech they have shown the public, they already show themselves to have the tech not only to do this, but also to make them mostly autonomous. The toughest part at this point might just be giving them a power source that wouldn’t give us problems if it were captured.

It makes sense that the U.S. has cut funding for some of its largest budgeted fighter jets and other new tech. The next war will be lost to the people with the best drone offense and laser defense. What chance does a fighter pilot have against a drone immune to G forces, or a ground based laser system that shreds it from miles away at the speed of light?

In related news, there have been reports that the U.S. drones have contracted some kind of computer virus.

Filed Under: Innovation Tagged With: Biomimicry, Innovation, Robotics, Video, Weapon

April 3, 2011 By Zog

SmartBird – Festo Robotic Flapping Bird

SmartBird - Festo

Not a year goes by lately without Festo coming out with some awesome new biomimetic toys, well, industrial automation really, but you can bet these will be in toy stores in some form within a year or two.

This time, they’ve created a bionic seagull, fully autonomous from takeoff to landing. It uses the same kind of active torsion to take advantage of vortices that flying animals use to get that extra edge in flight that has previously been hard to duplicate in man made devices. Turning is accomplished wit a tilt of the tail.

Rather than using lighter than air materials like in their past projects,the SmartBird frame is constructed from carbon fiber, polyeurathane foam and other lightweight but strong materials, yet they’ve still managed to keep it aloft even with the weight of the brains, batteries, motors, and even a radio transmitter. Video below.

For more technical specs, check out their pdf

Related Posts:

Festo Robotic Penguins

Festo Air Jelly

Lighter than air posts

Robotics posts

Filed Under: Design Inspiration, Electronics, Innovation Tagged With: Animals, Biomimicry, Design Inspiration, Innovation, Robotics, Video

January 31, 2011 By Zog

I Made You a Wig

Knitted wig - Elvis

MrsWoman knitted her husband a wig. An Elvis wig.

Why? Well, if you need to ask that, you’re on the wrong website. If I ever go bald, I’m gonna have me a closet full of knitted hair.

(Via the PreSurfer)

See also:

I Made You a Beard

Filed Under: Design Inspiration, Ideas Tagged With: Art, Biomimicry, Design Inspiration, DIY, Funny, Idea

December 12, 2010 By Zog

Rooster SteadyCam

Chicken mounted camera

If you want to avoid shakycam footage, there are a ton of ways to stabilize your camera, ranging from DIY projects, to a huge variety of devices (see here) ranging from simple and affordable, all the way to professional units where if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford them. All these options weren’t enough for this guy though, he’s taken the DIY approach to a new level, giving his rooster a helmet cam. If you’ve ever picked up a chicken, you know that when you move their body, their head stays in the same place (vestibular ocular reflex).

Why buy a fancy steadycam, when you can just carry a chicken? Video below.

It seems to me he has the camera pointed the wrong way. Chickens don’t look straight ahead, they look to the side. The real challenge here is to keep the chicken interested in looking at what you are filming, which could be a good way to make movies for people with short attention spans.

(via Hackaday)

Filed Under: Design Inspiration, Ideas Tagged With: Animals, Biomimicry, Design Inspiration, DIY, Funny, Idea, Interface, Video

October 9, 2010 By Zog

Leafy Zip Ties

Someone has come up with these fancy zip ties with leaves on the ends. They’ve got them in all sorts of colors for different application, from attaching plants to support rods, to making your iPod cord look like it’s sprouted white leaves. I like ’em. I hope they become a thing. And they sell them on Amazon!.

Filed Under: Design Inspiration, Ideas, Tools Tagged With: Art, Biomimicry, Design Inspiration, Idea, Tool

June 13, 2009 By Zog

Biomutualisms

I’m not sure the term is going to catch on, being a bit too attached to the biological, but Robert Full uses the term biomutualism to describe the way multiple disciplines working on related projects can create design inspiration greater than the sum of its parts. He explains it in the above Ted Talk by way of an example in his own studies on gecko adhesives, and how his cooperation with other disciplines is resulting in breakthroughs in materials sciences, biology, and robotics.

There is some great footage here of new discoveries relating to tails and how animals use them for everything from self-righting to guided flight. A must watch for anyone designing robots.

Filed Under: Design Inspiration, Electronics, Ideas, Innovation Tagged With: Animals, Biomimicry, Design Inspiration, Idea, Innovation, Robotics, Video

May 23, 2009 By Zog

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2009

We sent zogdo senior video correspondent and garden coach Genevieve Schmidt to the 2009 Kinetic Sculpture Race (Humboldt, California) and caught the above footage of the race. Humboldt County hosts this race every Memorial Day weekend, and it draws quite a crowd of bizarrely dressed spectators. Many of them dress like this on  daily basis. The star of the show for the second year running is the dragon built by Duane Flatmo out of hubcaps and similar materials. This year it has a fiery new trick, and it’s a real crowd pleaser.fire-breathing-sculpture-zogdo

 

 

I had the pleasure of helping to make some of these possible, mostly by machining various gears and other parts. This is one of those races where if you are entering to win, you’ve already lost. Corruption and bizarre rules are built into the race so deeply that it seems clear they are there to prove the point that this race is about the journey and the fun,  rather than the finish line.

 

fire-dragon-zogdo

 

 

 

 

I’ve been to at least a dozen of these races now, and the quality of the entries and the size of the crowd varies wildly. I’d say the best one I went to was about four years ago, back when Yakima was still a leading competitor.They were connected with sculptures like an early variation of the Hippypotamus, which this year came complete with sage smoke billowing out of its nostrils. In the past couple of years, the race has vastly increased in notoriety, making the front page of Digg last year, and the front page of CNN two days before the race began this year.

hippypotamus

Some of the new arrivals this year included The Octomom, complete with eight tentacles for grasping her young.

octomom-kinetic-zogdo

The Glory Hogs would occasionally stop to barbecue and hand out free hotdogs to their adoring fans. We got a great rooftop view of the race. gloryhogs-kinetic-09-zogdo

I hadn’t seen this beetle (firefly?) before, but I didn’t catch its name.

kinetic-firefly-zogdo

 

 

 

 

 

The symbol of the race is the Kinetic Chicken, personified in this sculpture that arrived with great fanfare last year. It came into the race at the last minute with a huge entourage of chicken headed cyclists, towering over the crowd in chromed glory.

kinetic-chicken-09-zogdo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also new was this skunk.

kinetic-skunk-zogdo

bicycle-dog-zogdoQuite a crowd of people follow the race on bicycles and skateboards, and give quite a representation of local color, like this dog, and this protester with a noble message about personal responsibility and smog reduction.pollution-death-machines-zogdo

I’ll end here for now with a giant angler fish, a closeup of the dragon head, and a great show of Flatmo helping Twinkle light their star.

anglerfish-kinetic-zogdodragonhead-sculpture-race-zogdodragon-kinetic-flatmo-zogdosteel-dragon-kinetic-zogdo

Update: Dead Man’s Drop and the dunes

All of the more interesting sculptures managed to make it to the sand dunes this year.

dead-mans-drop-flatmo-dragonI don’t have the weight specs for thedragon, but it’s nothing you want to be pedaling up a sand dune.  Here, the pit crew helps out a bit.

dead-mans-drop-dragon

 

Dead Man’s Drop is a steep section off the back of a sand dune leading to a small trail through the trees. The dragon made it down safely, unlike Big Top (red and white in the  right corner of the picture) . A note to anyone considering purchasing a Flip Video Recorder: they have a nasty habit of suddenly dead batteries, which loses the enitre currently recording section of footage, however long it may be. It cost us a great film from right below big top as it rolled down the hill.

 

 

dragon-in-the-treesdragon-threatens-small-children

hippypotamus-in-humoldt

The spashdown in the bay:

We arrived at the bay to an icy windy day, spectators shivering in their down coats, while Zog, true to form showed up in a T-shirt.

dog-jumping-through-tire

 

This guy in the parking lot had his dog jumping through a bicycle tire ad nauseum; why? because he could I suppose. I have a cat that will retrieve thrown asparagus, but you don’t see me bringing him to perform at events.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

giant-picnic-basket-sosThe bay crossing portion of the race takes place with the racers going down a ramp into the 50°F waters of Humboldt Bay, many of them submerged to the knees in barely seaworthy craft. The most notable difficulty I saw this year was this giant picnic basket. As soon as it hit the water, we could hear loud cracking noises as something went horribly wrong inside. The side panel of the float (using the term loosely) was meant to open up as their escape hatch, but it was obstructed by the dock. Everything turned out ok, but I doubt they made it upwind with such poor aerodynamics and some obvious structural issues.

kinetic-twinkle

 

While it is more mechanically interesting than truly sculptural, I’ve been quite impressed with Twinkle (formerly The Patriot Act). They’ve had some time to perfect things, and what they have ended up with is a machine that made the race over land and sea both look effortless. I didn’t spot them in the dunes, so I don’t know how it fared in sand, but the back wheel is used for steering on land and as a rudder at sea, and those big wheels with the paddles on the sides really worked great.

 

 

 

 

sea-dragon-flatmo

 

The Flatmo Dragon took to the water like a swan. A terrible fire breathing swan of DOOM! A great improvemnt over last year making the headlines worldwide after capsizing. This has truly become a remarkable machine that would draw crowds in any event on the planet.

 

 

 

 

I’ll likely more or less end this post here for the season, but if you were in the race or would like to see more of a particular entry, I do have a lot more photos. Feel free to comment below.

Filed Under: Design Inspiration, Ideas Tagged With: Art, Biomimicry, Design Inspiration, Funny, Kinetic Sculpture Race, Video

May 13, 2009 By Zog

Vibram Five Finger Shoes (reviews)

buy vibram fivefingers kso

I went out to our local sporting goods shop to buy Vibram five finger shoes if they had any of the new ones in stock. We were in luck!.

I’d seen the pictures of all the fancy ones online, and then went to the store locator to find a place near me that sold them since I wasn’t sure without trying them on that I would like them. When the shoe dude brought out a pair for me to try on, the first thing that struck me was the soles. they are smooth and padded like the soles of your feet, not rigid and ridgy like shoes. If you push on the shoe from the inside, the soles split into tiny herringbone incisions (they refer to it as razor siping). These provide awesome traction. The upper felt like wetsuit material. Pulling the shoe on was easy except for the little toe. I’ve wondered if the shoe would be better of with only four toes instead of five, combining the smallest two, but I really think they just made the smallest toe a tiny bit on the large side. Once the shoe is on though, it didn’t seem to be a problem. The shoes are shockingly comfortable. I wasn’t expecting that at all.

Walking around in these isn’t like wearing light running shoes at all. It feels like walking around in thick socks, but with the protection of a tough sole under your foot. I expected the wetsuit-like material to make my feet really hot and sweaty, but it really didn’t.  I bet these would be unbeatable on a rocky shore or tide-pool. They don’t seem like they would suffer at all out in the gritty sand either, since there isn’t really anywhere for them to chafe. I was trying on the Fivefingers FLOW model. They had another model, the KSO, which has a nice fabric mesh upper instead of the rubbery stuff. Trying these on took things one step further. I no longer felt like I was wearing thick socks, but more like being barefoot with tough soles. They are super light-weight and breathable. I bought a pair of the mesh shoes.

Wearing these toe shoes is such a pleasure that I found myself wearing them most of the day, around the house and in the yard. I don’t tend to wear shoes unless I’m going out, so this is a big seal of approval. After wearing them all weekend, I decided to wear them to work, which is about half a mile away. Walking to work, I took things a little slower than usual. The shoes didn’t hurt, but I could tell they were using a different set of muscles. When I got to work and sat down however, I felt a burning sensation across the front of the pad of my feet, like you might get from a few minutes of walking across asphalt barefoot. It didn’t go away, so I switched back to regular shoes for the day.  I think I was really close to giving myself a blister. I’d recommend your first brisk walk in these be no more than a quarter mile with a day afterwards to see how everything feels. I have sore muscles down my calf and Achilles, and in my foot, which surprised me, considering how much walking I do and how often I’m barefoot. These shoes are marketed towards marathon runners, and I hear that you just need to adjust to them. It didn’t feel like a flaw in the shoe, except that maybe a bit more than the usual proportion of  stepping force is applied to the front of the pad. They don’t feel like they slip or chafe, and it would be unlikely to roll your ankle. I would say that as compared to normal shoes they vastly increase the pleasure of walking on natural terrain and indoors, and somewhat decrease the pleasure of walking on asphalt.

I’m giving myself a couple days off from the shoes to make sure I’ve recovered from the first outing and then I’m excited to wear them again, this time with no extended walks until I’ve worn them a bit more. I’ll update this post further as I break them in some more.

Update: After a couple of days of rest, I was able to walk a few miles over the course of the day with no ill effects. My first attempt at running lasted a coupe blocks before I could really feel it down the back of my legs and quit just to be safe. I ended up with sore calf muscles (in a good way). The shoes do put a lot more emphasis on lower leg and foot muscles while running. After two weeks, I’m now able to walk several miles at a stretch on asphalt without discomfort. I wore my five fingers shoes to the Kinetic Sculpture Race, and they were great in the sand. They didn’t pick up much sand, and since your foot doesn’t slide inside, there is none of that sandpaper feeling at tender spots on your foot.

I’ve been wearing them everywhere, and without socks. They do need to be washed often or they start to smell. I threw mine in the washing machine and they came out great with no signs of wear. I’m finding myself unwilling to wear my other shoes now, so I’m going to buy Vibram fivefingers to wear while my others are waiting to be washed. They don’t soak up much water when washed since they don’t have all the spongy stuff most shoes do, so I just wore them rather than drying them and it didn’t seem weird.

Update: I got a second smaller pair (to keep a good wash cycle going), and I like them even better, so if you can’t decide on a size, go with the smaller. Over the 4th of July weekend, I took the FiveFingers out to the beach and still had no problems with sand (they leave great footprints), and they were great for climbing on the rocks.

vibram-fivefingers_beach

There was none of the pain of walking on barnacles barefoot, but none of the slippery feeling of being in shoes.

I also went out to the redwoods and walked around in the forest. My balance was much improved walking on small downed trees (the shoes wrap around instead of sitting flat like a platform). I found some stumps about twenty feet tall and had no trouble climbing straight up them. Making it up in running shoes would have been unlikely since there wasn’t much in the way of visible footholds. The soles were grippy enough to make it a breeze. I don’t know how they would be for hard-core rock climbing, but they are excellent for casual climbing.

Update: Took them out to the river and they were awesome for puddling around in the water. I didn’t try swimming in them, but walking on the normally treacherous slimy rocks was like a foot massage and quite stable. I also walked on some really scary looking blackberry brambles and none of them made it through to my foot, which I have to admit, really surprised me. I’ve been seeing a lot of people worrying about whether it is bad for your back or arches to run barefoot or in FiveFingers. I’ve suffered no ill effects now after several months. This is how we were designed to run. If you doubt it, just check out this video of an ancient hunting technique. I found it inspirational as a runner.

I know a lot of you don’t live near stores where you can buy Vibram Fivefingers, and most of our readers are international, so I’m posting an amazon link below (international variants at the bottom of the resulting page) which I still find to be the safest and most convenient, but I’ll keep an eye out for better deals and post them here as I find them.

There are several colors and styles. I went with black mesh KSO (pictured). The well placed strap system makes them flexible enough that being a size off shouldn’t be a big deal. These are listed in European sizing, so I’ve put up a sizing chart, which I found to be quite accurate. Honestly, with how easy returns are these days, I’d just save yourself the trip and get a pair online.
Here you can find Assorted Vibrams available on amazon. Scroll down to the bottom of the amazon page to find them for your country if you don’t live in the U.S.

vibram-fivefingers-sizing-chart

Filed Under: Ideas, Reviews Tagged With: Biomimicry, Innovation, Review, Vibram

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