Current Work - Snakebots
Another collaboration with my software engineer next door neighbour, Phil May.
Back in 2018 we made 5 robot snakes for my degree project at Plymouth College of Art (as it was called back then) - see Snake Pit. They languished in my workshop, collecting dust, until 2024 when I visited Discovering 42 , Cornwall's quirky "Science, Art and Sustainability Centre" in Bodmin, and ended up asking the owners whether they would like to have some of our snakes in their exhibit.
The answer was yes, but I was quite leery about reliability - the snakes had broken down a few times in the 3-week-long degree show. Phil took on the task of re-engineering them for a "museum" environment - one in which they had to operate 24/7 with minimal maintenance, and one in which the viewers were more engaged - seeing how things worked and having more control over how the "snakebots" behaved. Phil figured all of this out and I just helped implement the changes, which included
- Shortening the "snakebots", removing 2 segments, to reduce stresses
- Changing the servos so they had metal rather than plastic cogs.
- Replacing wiring to the servos, using clips rather than soldering
- Installing ball bearings at all swivel points, replacing nylon bolts
- Changing the electronics so signalling to the snakes was carried by WiFi rather than wiring
- Upgrading the cameras used to track people's movements
- Adding push buttons so viewers can wake up the snakes and switch between them tracking people moving beneath them, dancing (waltz, cha-cha-cha and the Muppet Dance, picked at random), acting scared or going to sleep.
- Adding a screen so viewers can see how their position is being deduced from camera input
- Rewriting the software to accommodate changes and make improvements
We implemented all of this on 3 of the 5 snakes. We could be persuaded to upgrade the other 2 if someone has an appropriate venue for them.
In the end, 2 of the snakebots were installed at Discovering 42 in Bodmin. Phil created a duplicate set of everything (this time with 4 cameras rather than 2) for the 3rd snakebot now part of Discovering 42's traveling exhibition, Mobile Marvels.
I made the box to transport the snake and Phil mounted the power supply unit, screen, two cameras, transmitter, battery holder and push buttons on the underside of the box's lid - see photo below. Two further satellite cameras fit in the clips at the foot of the board for transport.
During exhibitions the snakebot is bolted to the top of this board and the whole assembly is attached to a frame supporting a marble run on the other side. The satellite cameras are moved to clips on either side of the frame.