Here is the very latest creation from the legendary Paul Spooner. He's never made an automaton I didn't like. Well...not that I know of, anyway.
Check out the cast of characters he's created for this one! The little hand-carved figures look like they are attached a differential gear within the sphere which causes them to rotate in groups as the entire things rotates as a whole. The articulated joints allow the figures to flop into different positions as they are turned around.
This charming automaton was made out of drawings by children. The paper drawings were mounted on to a thicker bristol board or foam-core and given wire pivots. All were then mounted to a common crank shaft. A quick and effective process with a nice final product.
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.
Tiny Town was the creation of a man named Frank Moshinskie who worked on it for 68 years. The display depicts various places in America that Moshinskei visited. Over 20 states are represented. The tiny people were hand-carved by Moshinskeie. You get a brief look at the mechanism that powers it all -- also made from recycled objects -- around the 1:25 mark in the video posted above.
Frank wanted his Tiny Town to be busy, so 18 hidden motors power everything from the rivers to the oil pump jacks to the carousel and merry-go-round. Push-buttons at various spots allow visitors to make the tiny people move: people swim, swing, hammer and saw, rock in hammocks, hang up clothes. A family eats the same sandwiches they've been eating since 1963; the bread goes up and down to their mouths many times a minute.
The entire thing is made from found, recycled, and inexpensive objects. Nothing in Tiny Town cost more than $4.00. Items used include cat food cans, rotisserie motors, puzzle pieces, popsicle sticks, sawdust, record player parts, and anything else you can imagine.
You can still visit Tiny Town in Hot Springs, Arkansas where his son Charles has continued to display it as a tribute to his father's creativity.
The piece shown above by artist Tom Bennett was commissioned to go in The Spring Arts and Heritage Centre Havant. It is a working representation of a the Hayling Billy steam railway, which operated between Havant and the holiday location of Hayling Island on the south coast for 100 years.
From the artist's web site:
The principal aim of the piece was bring to life the history of the railway in a way that would engage the imagination, particularly the young. It was to be part of a larger project designed to explore the history of the borough by means of a timeline, videos, artifacts and other interactive activities.
Operated by hand and with the sounds of the engine chuffing and whistling, the train moves from past to present in a landscape filled with local history. On its way it passes tunnels, bridges, a turning windmill ending up at the seaside with bathers jumping up and down in the sea.
Scott Swaaley, a physics teacher in San Deigo, has created a remarkable educational program called Seniors Squared. Swaaley had his students design and create custom automata to teach them about physics and engineering principles. That's a great idea, for sure, but it didn't end there. Swaaley and his students took this educational experience to another level by partnering with local senior citizens. Here's an excerpt from his description of the program:
As part of a joint physics and humanities project, my high school seniors partnered with senior citizens from a local senior community center and designed, constructed, and troubleshot an automaton specifically for their senior citizen partner. My students learned and applied concepts ranging from torque, simple machines, and angular velocity to engineering design principles and the precision of an engineering proposal. Their project was accompanied by an engineering analysis of their piece as well as a series of writing pieces on their senior citizen (on which the automaton was based). Overall, my students were able to practice engineering, get involved with our local community, and to build a meaningful relationship with a local adult in need.
Because of this innovative program, Swaaley has been selected as one of 30 finalist for McGraw-Hill's Science, Technology, Engineering & Math Innovative Educator Award (STEMIE Award)! Voting has begun to select the winners, and you can help by voting now.
How you can vote for the Seniors Squared program:
Sign up to vote on the McGraw-HIll web site. It only takes 15 seconds!
I had the great pleasure of seeing Dean Kamen speak in Boston once and got to shake his hand afterward. I let him know that he was on of my heroes in no uncertain terms. He was very gracious.
He is currently working on heat driven Stirling engines (see this model Stirling Engine I posted about not long ago). He's not just working on the engines, but some novel applications for their use. I can't wait to see what he comes up with.
