Let's start 2011 by promoting a worthwhile event sponsored by one of our suppliers, SparkFun. Tomorrow is their 2nd "Free Day". Last year's event pretty much crashed their servers (we sent flowers of condolence). This year, they're going about it a bit wiser, offering several ways to taking advantage of their $150,000 give-away. We're big […]
Solarbotics at Calgary Comic Expo 2013
Solar botics
April 30, 2013
Whelp, many moons have passed since we posted last time (er, maybe that's a slight exaggeration), and many a thing have happened. We went to Las Vegas to the Magento conference, lasered some ukuleles, but mostly were in a mad rush preparing for the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo 2013. We teamed up with a wonderful costume designer and artist Angela Dale to produce wearable pieces that merge electronics and costume design.
Here's the first example - joint effort of Graeme Janzen, Angela Dale and Solarbotics. Custom Fosshape molded helmet is fitted perfectly to the wearer, and 3 layers of lasercut acrylic are edge-lit with 24 high-power white LEDs:
Our Voltron Helmet is based on the Black Lion toy design from Defender of the Universe, a popular cartoon in the mid eighties. Voltron consisted of 5 robot lions that joined together to form a Giant Robot that protected the galaxy from evil doers. The Black Lion in particular is special because it formed the head and torso of the combined Robot Voltron. Since the head had two different modes: Robot and Lion, it was intriguing to try to emulate the two modes as best as we could.
We used an Ardweeny, Multipack, TTLy FTDI, 2 Star Controllers, and 2 HXT900 servos to animate our replica and make it come alive with a few electronic bits. Special thanks to Angela Dale and Robyn Ayles (props designer and full-time faculty at the Mount Royal theater program) for their assistance!
This Chameleon Cocktail Ensemble was created by Angela and her assistants as a part of MakeFashion project. It uses 20 meter of addressable LED strips (add 5 meters in the headdress) powered by 3.7V LiPoly batteries, and ArduinoPro Mini to control the lighting sequences.
We also hosted the Arduino workshop at the Expo, with a slight costuming application bend and many blinky lights...
..and did lots of people watching.
Check out our Flickr photostream for details on more projects and photos!
MORE POSTS
2002 LANL Workshop in the works...
Word from up the pipe at the Los Alamos National Laboratories is that the 10th Annual BEAM workshop is slated to happen May 2-4, 2002 at the Betty Ehart Center in Los Alamos, New Mexico (same place as the 1999 workshop). Thanks to Joe Vigil (of LANL) who spearheaded the initiative after Paul Argo (the […]
Christmas Holiday Schedule
With the holidays fast approaching we would like to announce our holiday schedule which is outlined below: At Solarbotics: Monday, December 24th to Wednesday, December 26th - Offices Closed December 27th, 28th, 31st - Open, regular hours Tuesday, January 1 - Offices Closed Wednesday, January 2 - Open, back to regular hours At ActiveTech Calgary:
Holiday Shipping Dates, More Sales
Well, we're already half-way through December and the days, snow, and cold temperatures keep rolling on. For those of you in need to get some last-minute shopping in before the holidays hit, you're in luck. For the next two weeks (until Dec 29th) we have two totally-awesome Arduino-type deals: Shieldpack (This promotion has ended. Better […]
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Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.