Dorkbot:66 Dorkbot Seattle 0x42 - rockets and fountains

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For March 2011 we bring you two equally fascinating presentations with no identifiable unifying theme. Jon Howell and Jeremy Elson join us to talk about the "Ravenna Ultra-Low-Altitude Vehicle", and Gerry Chu will be discussing his exploration of fountains and tracking motion using the Kinect to control emotional sounds.

As always we want to thank our generous hosts at Jigsaw Renaissance, and we encourage you to support them with a donation if you attend the meeting.

Jon Howell and Jeremy Elson - The Ravenna Ultra-Low-Altitude Vehicle: A Sub-orbital Treehouse

Rarely does building a treehouse require welding, grinding, painting, riveting, bending, crimping, plumbing, brazing, laser cutting, sound design, printed circuit board fabrication, thousands of lines of C code, distributed network protocols, sewing and embroidery.

Ours did.

Gerry Chu - Interactive Fountains and Motion Emotions

Motion Emotions

This work allows people to express emotions using movement as a proxy. Here, a powerful, motivational sound is expressed by raising the arms. Motion tracking uses Kinect. I am interested in collaborating with people experienced in audio to make emotion-laden sounds (yelling, crying, clapping, etc) that can be varied in intensity as the participant moves.

Statement

Making fountains lets me explore and control the form of water, to showcase examples of water forms I have seen in nature as well as create forms that are apart from nature. I see water as a sculptural medium, as form, as a solid itself. Most fountains use water as mere decoration—a statue of a goddess spitting water from her mouth. In contrast, in my fountains, water plays an active and primary role.
http://www.gerrychu.com

See you all there!