Ichabod Steam's Animatronic Steampunk Band

The introduction to this video is a little long, but this band is well worth checking out. Why? Well, the drummer and bass player are automata!

Here is where you can learn more about Ichabod Steam and HIs Animatronic Steampunk Band.

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Beautifully made Jimi Hendrix automaton with realistic motions

Take a look at this amazing automaton figure depicting legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix. The amount of lifelike motion obtained from just a handful of cams and the figure's articulated joints is truly impressive. The stylized carving and wash colors are lovely too.

This automaton was made by artist Daniel Bennan. You can see more automata on his Pinterest page.

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Musical marble machine created by Martin Molin plays amazing song

Videos of this machine have been all over the internet for the last few days. Many of you and taken the time to write to me to make me aware of it. I thank you all!

The machine, made by Martin Molin, uses an elaborate marble track system to create a sophisticated song. There are some 2000 marbles raised by a tracked elevator which is powered by some vigorous hand cranking. As they descend, the marbles strike the right parts of a glockenspiel, percussion instruments, and bass guitar. A lever system allows the operator/musician to turn selected instruments on and off. This allows the machine to be played in a way that goes beyond simply turning the crank and allowing the programmed track to run.

It's an amazing accomplishment technically and musically. Bravo!

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Music Video by Birdsong At Morning features automaton by Dug North

This new music video is a song titled "Never to Part" by the group Birdsong At Morning. My automaton Mekanikos vs. The Minotaur makes an appearance!

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News segment about the Guinness Collection of automata and mechanical music in New Jersey

Here is a segment on the Morris Museum that was broadcast by WMBC-TV in the New York City & northern New Jersey area last weekend. The first two-thirds of the video is on the mechanical music instruments, and the rest is about the automata. Not only do we get to see and hear some of these wonderful machines, but we also get some valuable commentary from the both the Conservator and Curators of the collection. Ever wonder why so many of the old automata feature monkeys dressed up in fancy cloths? Watch the video to find out why!

Here is where you can learn more about the Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey

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Ro-Bow - a robot that plays a real violin

Seth Goldstein dropped me a line to let us know about a machine he created which plays tunes on a real a violin. This mechanical wonder was recently featured in the New York Times. Here is a link to the article on Seth Goldstein's RO-BOW. In the video, Goldstein explains the basic components of the machine and how they work together make the machine perform musical magic.

Machines that play the violin are not new -- some may be seen at The Morris Museum in New Jersey. Check out the wonderful book on the collection called Musical Machines and Living Dolls. Still, Goldstein's robot is of a differnet, more modern variety, capable of replicating any tune that can play on a keyboard. It works on some very unique and ingenious principles. Truly amazing.

You can find out more about Seth Goldstein on his web site, which has information and video showing his other pieces Why Knot? and Cram Guy.

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Hand-cranked musical automaton featuring spinning ballerinas

Dancing Ballerinas - Hand-Cranked Musical Automaton #3 from John Hutchinson on Vimeo.

Check out the latest hand-cranked musical automaton designed by John Hutchinson! This is the third of his musical designs and features ballerinas twirling and jumping to the tune. Plans and instructions for this automaton will be featured in woodworking magazine in the not-too-distant future. I really like the mechanism for turning the crank of music box itself.

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Is that snake real? Incredible footage of a vintage snake-charmer automaton

My previous post was about "Zulma, La Charmeuse de Serpent" (Zulma, The Snake-Charmer) created by Gaston Decamps around 1907. VERITAS Art Auctioneers in Lisbon, Portugal will be auctioning off this rare automaton today, June 24th 2014 .

Here is video footage of the piece in question. Just incredible!

Contact information for VERITAS Art Auctioneers:
Address: Av. Elias Garcia, 157 A/B  1050-099 Lisboa, Portugal
Phone: +351 21 794 8000
Email: info@veritasleiloes.com
Web:  http://veritasleiloes.com

[ Thanks Falk! ]

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Antique Black Forest clock with figure playing the trumpet

Many beautiful clocks where produced in the Black Forest region of Germany. The good folks over at J. Miller & Sons Antiques are offering one such example made around the turn of the century. I love this clock.

From the clock description page:

The trumpeter figure is carved from wood and retains its original paint. He has a trumpet in his mouth and a keg of beer over his shoulder. He calls at the full and half hours for another round of refreshment.

Here is where you can learn more about this Black Forest Shelf 3 Horn Trumpeter Clock.

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Three Blind Mice automaton by Keith Newstead

Automaton artist Keith Newstead has done it again. Check out this amazing automaton featuring sounds that integrate with the motions of the characters. The use of sound and the second scene played out in silhouette in the background makes for a very rich and complete automaton.

Here is where you can learn more about Three Blind Mice automaton by Keith Newstead.

[ Thanks John!]

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Beautiful old style automata by Gale and Andrew Bantock

Check out this automaton by Gale and Andrew Bantock. Gale is a 12th-scale miniaturist and model-maker. Gale's figures are all hand-sculpted one-of-a-kind models, normally clothed using a mixture of decorated paper, leather, and material. Her work has been featured in books and magazines around the world with a numerous cover features.

This piece features a classical scene of musicians playing a duet on piano and cello (or at least I think it is, perhaps its a viola). A number of other things in the scene are animated including a parrot in its cage and a cat hiding in a basket. The level of detail is really impressive.

Here is were you can see more miniatures by Gale Bantock.

[ Thanks Christoph! ]

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Swans Nesting automaton by Karen Barkie

Check out this nicely made automaton by Karen Barkie featuring two swans. I love the clean construction and the clever, yet simple way she incorporated a hand-cranked music box.

From the video description: A wooden automaton. Male Mute swan swims protectively around a nesting female to the music of Fur Elise played on a small music box. The wooden circular top spins around the stationary female. This is accomplished by inserting a 1/2" dowel within a 1 1/4" dowel. Made of oak, poplar and basswood. Measures 13 1/2" tall and 8" deep and wide. By Karen Barkie.

Here is where you can see more videos of automata by Karen Barkie.

[ Thanks Christoph! ]

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The best projects from MAKE magazine in book form

If you are like me, you have been subscribed to MAKE magazine since day one. If not, you've now got a lot of catching up to do. Don't despair, however! They've assembled various topics into collections of articles that make for outstanding books. Take for example, The Best of Make. This 384 book pulls 75 of the best projects from the first two years of the magazine and gives them to you in one handy volume for only $25! That's one heck of a deal.

Inside this issue you will find chapters on tools, electronics, micro-controllers, toys & games, robots, music, flight & projectiles, photography & video, and cars & engines. Each of these chapters contains between 6 and 9 hands-on projects. Here is where you can order The Best of Make.

Also check out their other dedicated books like Make: Electronics, The Makerspace Workbench, The Essential Guide to 3D Printers, and the Eccentric Cubicle (a personal favorite).

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‘The Flooded Arena’, an incredible clockwork automaton somewhere in London

If you are in London, and brave as well as determined, you should find your way to this exhibition and show. It's an installation based on Mark Ferelli's automaton, The Flooded Arena. He has worked on this for a decade and it has many impressive movements as the gladiator circles the flailing serpent. The exhibit is in Deptford in London. I am informed that many would consider it to be on the "wrong" side of the river, but that it is simply incredible.

From an article on the exhibit:

Surrounded by numerous working drawings, illustrating the ways and mysteries of its creation, Ferelli presents 'The Flooded Arena', a clockwork automaton, owing as much in character to those past mechanical creations of antiquity from Hero of Alexandria, Salomon de Caus, the genius of Arabia’s own 'Golden Age', Al-Jazari, as it does the fantastic cinema of Korda’s 'Thief of Baghdad' and the 'Sinbad' movies of Ray Harryhausen.

Mythology, music, darkness, clockwork powered and lit by magic lantern. Sounds pretty good to me! If you have more details on how exactly how to find this exhibit, leave a comment or send me a note. It appears to be at the offices of DIVUS, which according the article below are located at Enclave 5, 50 Resolution Way London.

Here is an article about the exhibit.

[ Thanks Michael! ]

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Intel creates kinetic art robotic music system inspired by an animated video

A couple of years ago, a video made the rounds on the internet. (Strangely, I don't think it appeared here on The Automata Blog.) It was a 3D animation of an intricate musical system in which bouncing balls triggered notes on an assemblage of musical devices. It was pretty convincing. I think there was a bit of confusion in some circles as to whether the machine was a real thing or not. It wasn't, but now it is. The folks at Intel have used that video as inspiration to create a machine that does more or less what the one in the video did! That's what you see above.

For reference, here is the original video titled Pipe Dream:

Here is where you can learn more about the embedded Intel technology for industrial automation that was used for this project.

[ Thanks Christoph! ]

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Hand-cranked automaton plays 'When the Saints Go Marching In' on the xylophone

Check out this automaton which plays When the Saints Go Marching In on the xylophone...or is that a glockenspiel because they are metal plates? In any case, the machine design and fabrication are outstanding!

OK...I did some quick research. It is a glockenspiel. Here is the word from Wikipedia:

A glockenspiel (German pronunciation: [ˈɡlɔkənˌʃpiːl], glocken:bells and spiel:play) is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, thus making it a metallophone. The glockenspiel, moreover, is usually smaller and higher in pitch. In German, a carillon is also called a Glockenspiel, while in French, the glockenspiel is often called a carillon.

Show above is the GP Percussion Bell Kit. It looks like a good deal because it comes with the 30 note glockenspiel as well as a heavy duty stand, practice pad, beaters, sticks, and nylon carrying case.

It's nearly back-to-school time. If you order any instruments from Amazon, consider doing via the link you see here for Musical Instruments. Thanks!

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Piano player automaton project - a video tutorial in two parts

Part 1 - Scroll saw automaton project

Here is a two part video tutorial from the scrollsaw workshop of Steve Good. Part one is shown above and part two is below. In the videos, Steve teaches you how to build an automaton using a scroll saw primarily. It's a wonderful tool that is more versatile than many people realize. Here you see it put to good use. The project plans the piano player automaton are available free of charge on Steve's blog.

Part 2 - Scroll saw automaton project

These videos are a fantastic resource, no doubt about it. This project is very similar to one by Rodney Frost published in his book Making Mad Toys & Mechanical Marvels in Wood. Pages 26 through 31 of that book provide plans for a piece called The Pianist (shown at right). This could be a case of independent invention or it could be that a tip of that hat is due to Mr. Frost. So, in the interest of fairness and completeness, I will take the liberty of doing that here. If you would like to do this project, and many others, Mr. Frost's book features a dozen or more excellent automaton projects.

[ Thanks Charles! ]

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Spooky Love: A Danse Macabre - automaton book by Thomas Kuntz

Check out this recent work by sculptor and automaton maker, Thomas Kuntz.The beautiful leather-bound book when opened, features a pair of well-dress skeletons dancing under the moonlit sky. The music box movement, made by the renowned Reuge company, was adapted to power the scratch-built cam and lever system that makes the skeletons dance and the moon change size. Some interesting still shots towards the end of the video show some of the artist's in-process shots.

See more automata by Thomas Kuntz on his web site.

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Black Forest flute clock circa 1770 features blackbird automaton

Justin Miller of Blackforestclocks.org sent this video along. This musical clock was made in the Black Forest region around 1770. The piece features a blackbird automaton. The movement plays 5 different birdsong-themed songs at the top of the hour, while the blackbird figure moves from left to right and opens and closes its beak as if singing the tune.

For more information on this type of clock, you will want to check out Miller's outstanding book Rare and Unusual Black Forest Clocks. Among the most comprehensive volumes ever produced on the subject, this large format book features over 700 images showcasing the finest examples of clocks made in the Black Forest region.

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Music box discovered to be the source for two tunes from the opera Madame Butterfly

Legend had it that Puccini, composer of the the famous Japanese-themed opera Madame Butterfly, was inspired by melodies he heard from a Japanese music box. For over one hundred years, historians have searched in vain for the Japanese music box that Puccini heard. Musicologist Tony Shepard, on a recent chance visit to the Morris Museum in New Jersey, heard something quite surprising. Among the dozens of automata and mechanical music machines housed at this extraordinary museum, Shepard happened to listen to a Chinese music box. Something familiar caught his ear. A discovery was made in that moment. As research continues, it seems more and more likely that a music box now at the Morris Museum is the very one Puccini heard. Not only do two of the tunes match those in Madame Butterfly, the ownership of the box can be traced to the composer. Cryptic symbols inside the mechanism of the music box look like those often penned by Puccini himself.

The Morris Museum features an exhibition of over 150 pieces from the world-renowned Murtogh D. Guinness collection of mechanical musical instruments and automata.

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