PR Stunts

[Damian Axford]

Whilst at oggcamp, Jamie and I got talking about ways to promote the Hackspace en masse (inspired by one of the lightning talks and Lindy-bombing) and came up with the idea of maker-bombing.  

In short - turn up in the town centre with a bonkers interactive contraption to get people interested, engaged and excited about making.  Thereby encouraging them to come along to the hackspace and get involved.

General principles for "stunts" discussed so far:

• Must be portable - to get them in/out of the town-centre (and other locations) easily, plus to avoid getting into trouble with being an "obstruction"
• Must be cheap - obviously
• Must be big - to grab peoples attention
• Must not be a nuisance - we don't want to piss people off, esp. the council!
• Must capture the imagination - not boring!  worth tweeting/telling your friends!  news-worthy
• Must be interactive - oggcamp proved the power of interactive exhibits like the Teletype
• Must appeal to all ages - simple, kid friendly and grandma friendly
• Must not be intimidating
• Must be weather-proof/resistant - cos it rains lots, and can get windy
• Must be safe - we don't want to get sued
• Must be robust - so that it can work for days at a time, and resistant to potential vandals/morons

Bonus points if:

• It can be used by other hackspaces (e.g. Oxhack) for cross-promotion....   i.e. we both build stunt material and then both can get use out of it for bigger impact

PR stunt ideas so far:

1. Interactive "circuit board" - many ways to accomplish this, we discussed at least 4, but easier to explain with pictures (will sketch out a few soon)
2. Giant useless box.... even better, a pair connected by radio link, such that it's actually people around the town centre "annoying" each other :)
3. Giant ball machine - think marble run, on steroids, with interactive elements
4. Flying video camera, feeding the big screen in the town centre - various safety issues with this, but would be cool if possible
5. Twitter to ASCII art - taking selfies to a new level.  We talked about this wrt the teletype, but it could easily make for a very engaging photo-booth type thing without the teletype
6. Robot portraits - take a basic robot arm, a pen and some web-cam magic....  like traditional street portraits with a twist
7. Puppeteer a robot arm(s) - imagine big robot arm (or other cool robot thing) in a cell, controlled by a miniature puppet version that people can control, program sequences of moves, etc - see http://www.3ders.org/articles/20141003-inexpensive-table-top-3d-printed-robopuppet-for-teleoperating-full-size-robots.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=gplus for inspiration
8. Robot air hockey - prize for the top score - see http://cienciaycacharreo.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/new-project-air-hockey-robot-3d-printer.html

Things we already have that nearly fit the bill:

• the Teletype - issues: it's too heavy, isn't really weather-proof and needs serious power

Examples from other hackspaces:

• Reading hackspace - bi-cycle "robot" with POV wheel (not actually interactive, but could be made interactive easily), big ol interactive LED wall made of Ableton live pads.

Potential approach:

• week 1: generate ideas (extending the list above)
• week 2: pick a shortlist ( max 3) to refine
• week 3-4: pick the best idea, turn into bench prototype to prove the concept, test the interactivity, etc
• week 5: hackathon style weekend to make the full scale version - invite oxhack crew to help, and anyone else who is interested
• week 6: apply final polish and take it for a spin in the town

If we get a skinny on, we can hit the town for the Xmas rush...   which also implies it could do with some kind of Xmas angle, or at least some fairy lights

[Robert Longbottom]

Some interesting ideas there.  I think anything flying would be way too dangerous, sadly.  Though you might get away with a blimp :-)

Another idea I was thinking about at the weekend after seeing the interest in twitter controlled devices is a twitter controlled drivable robot.  So you tweet:

@snhackbot fwd 10
@snhackbot turn 90
Etc...

You could have a live video feed on the robot, maybe some kind of low violence robot wars, or a race through a maze / course with a few people and a few robots.

The idea of the robot artist could be quite a good one because people could have a picture to take away with them, signed snhack so they remember us.

Rob.

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[Damian Axford]

we did talk about a blimp - but I think it fails on the "robust to wind" front...  unless we use it indoors (like the shopping centre)

Love the twitter controlled robots, especially when coupled with a maze!   Perhaps three coloured robots (red, green, blue?) to encourage collaborative/competitive maze solving?  

@snhack red fwd 10

We could make the robots sticky to a particular user - so as soon as the first tweet from someone is accepted, it gives them exclusivity until a timeout (say 30sec).   or not.  

Would love to give prizes for getting to the center of the maze - perhaps that's where something like the robot artist could come in?  solve the maze to win a portrait.  that also provides a mechanism to slow down requests to the robot :)

[Jamie Osborne]

Nice write up Damian!

Rob, love the twitter bot idea - logo programming one tweet at a time!

I was thinking the teletype could benefit from it's own account - @snhack.tt would have made the main account more usable this weekend!

Once set up I guess it should be @moc.tt, at least until/unless the Hackspace take it out somewhere.

Jamie

[Jamie Osborne]

Damn, I thought dots were the only symbol allowed in usernames, but it's underscores. Which nicely separates a word but sounds a bit weird to say to normals.

@snhack_turtle red fwd 10

Jamie

On 6 Oct 2014, at 12:32, Damian Axford <dam...@axford.me.uk> wrote:

[Damian Axford]

of course...  cool kids don't use separators...     

@snhackturtle red fwd 10

[Damian Axford]

for more extreme turtle programming.... enter: Laser Turtle

Send tweets to @snhacklaser to control the laser turtle bot (laser cutter live stream via webcam)...  finished parts are posted out to the creator

middleware makes sure you don't do anything stupid, could constrain each "turtle", etc

[Damian Axford]

and back to the idea from months ago - a Kinect controlled pair of eyes, or head.   

[Damian Axford]

Loads of good ideas on this "Interactive" Pinterest board:

http://www.pinterest.com/valpest/interactive/

[Jamie Osborne]

The laser is a nice idea too - addresses/mailing could be a pain. 

Direct (private) messages can only be sent on twitter if snhack already follows that person. Email is an option but seems like a hack.  Though we could auto follow for 24hrs after first "@snhacklaser" - then send them a tweet asking them to DM address details...

One drawback is that most address books have an option to send details by email built in - but not by twitter. User can copy details in, but may not know that.

Jamie

[Damian Axford]

there wouldn't be that many who get all the way to a completed piece - so we could just collect addresses manually?  like on paper :)

[Jamie Osborne]

What?! I'd have to remember how to write with a pen and stuff!

Though, I think the DM idea would be cool as it could be automated for an unattended project (not this one perhaps).

Jamie

[Robert Longbottom]

Paper.  How very retro! :-)

Or the challenge could be if you can burn your name / address onto the piece with the laser then we'll send it on to you!

[Damian Axford]

@Jamie - hahaha, and yes, DM cool if it works reliably and is easy to explain to people on the street!

@Rob - better plan!   perhaps a turtle extension to support text?  otherwise that's just mean ;)

[Damian Axford]

these look a good match for the wireless robot idea:

http://mirobot.io/about/

£50 for kit, or we could build a slightly cheaper 3D print + bluetooth (rather than wifi) version.

[Jamie Osborne]

Hmm, we could make one using a Pi - WiFi no more expensive than Bluetooth then!!

Jamie

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[Jamie Osborne]

Did you notice the Ragworm Orange PCBs?

Also, what's the thickest you can cut MDF?

Jamie

On 10 Oct 2014, at 13:08, Damian Axford <dam...@axford.me.uk> wrote:

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[Damian Axford]

Yep :) and 6mm easy, maybe 10mm at a push... Needs to be laser friendly mdf though to avoid toxic fumes

[Jamie Osborne]

Ah, cool. I was thinking we take his chassis design and scale it up (make it BIG), pack it with batteries, a Pi, and a webcam - make our own driver board (or buy an existing Pi "HAT" if any available) and write everything in Python.

The Pi could be configured to vend a public hotspot if no existing network available - we could then control over twitter, or though web portal.

Anyone in its location (outside of configured wifi) would see "LogoRobot Open WiFi" on their phone and be greeted with a web page (hotspot login style) that gave them control of the robot and webcam feedback. Bonus points for finding the robot IRL.

Jamie

[Jamie Osborne]

Also, if we can do the same thing with an arduino pro mini and some wifi chip breakout then I'd certainly prefer to just take the existing code.

An wifi shield means using a full arduino == same size as Pi and probably same cost (even with non-official arduino).

It would mean certain constraints on any standalone project (webcams, robot server portal, etc.), unless we have a computer (Pi) nearby to help out, in which case it makes sense to put it all in a Pi.

I also have a little hope that we can use the mirobot library (and dependencies) for the Pi, leaving only the command logic to be written (I'm thinking python http and twitter server that passes on commands to mirobot library or equivalent.

Jamie

[Damian Axford]

loving the giant mirobot plan, and on balance, PI seems the better route for what you've suggested.  Things to do:

• decide just how big.... I'm thinking max 2ft across
• decide if we'd rather build an R2D2 instead of a mirobot (!!)  if it's going to be that size
• settle on a power supply - 12V sealed lead acid?  
• motor/gearbox choice?  I have a kids ride on toy we could strip down for parts....

[Jamie Osborne]

Yup, I was thing about a foot or so across at least. People can see it better, and we have more options for batteries and other sensors/webcams etc. So at least 300mm across widest part, but scale up to maximum 600mm as req. to accommodate batteries and drive train, etc.

Cool if we can use the parts you have, don't mind about battery - whatever's best for staying power (!) vs. weight/cost etc.

We could do a mash up of the original logo turtle shape but less of a hemisphere and looking like R2D2's "head"? :)

Jamie

[Jamie Osborne]

Yes, like idea of R2D2 head I do! Hmm?

This offers lots of fun "add-ons" such as make funny beeps etc, and occasionally spinning around 540° when only 180° was required! (Or 270° left instead of 90° right?)

Jamie

On 11 Oct 2014, at 16:47, Damian Axford <dam...@axford.me.uk> wrote:

[Damian Axford]

I'm liking the idea of R2D2...  not a super fancy version in machined metal, but something with the right size/shape/paint-job.  It would also give us something to enhance/extend over time.

We could add a chalk line painter in it's bum for the drawing aspect :)   (think a can of chalk spray with a servo actuator)

[Damian Axford]

simples:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Make-a-R2D2-Full-Size-Scratch-Built/

[Jamie Osborne]

But just the (almost hemispherically shaped) head of R2D2 yes? Rather than hefting around a full dustbin sized thing - that's mostly empty space.

Did you say you have some spare servos? I'd like to play around with driving them with the Pi as a precursor to this project. Was thinking we could make a Pi case with its own wheels!! :D

Jamie

[Damian Axford]

I was thinking the full thing :)   but we could always start with just the head....  poor R2D2 - he's lost his body, help him find it using twitter

[Jamie Osborne]

Ha! That's awesome!

We could use an existing R2 project to help with decoration and shape of head etc., but otherwise overkill for what we want. A full sized R2D2 replica is a different project to a drawing robot turtle, though there's no reason that couldn't be a follow-on project. ;)

I'm thinking "hey, it's a little drawing robot that happens to look like R2D2's head", rather than "hey, it's an R2D2 robot that happens to be drawing something"..

Jamie

[Jamie Osborne]

Haha! Yes, definitely start with the head, it's just the right size and shape to contain everything we need and still "call back" to the old turtle used in schools.

Jamie

[Jess Robinson]

This is the giant survey thingy they had at emfcamp that I mentioned: voxboxproject.com

Jess

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