The Originals Factory | 2011



The Originals Factory is a fusing together and questioning digital, mechanic and plastic approaches to art, abstraction and originality. It is basically a DIY robot, built and programmed to create landscape paintings in the style of American abstract expressionism.
The computer system uses real time video input to control motor movement and pump actions to release paint drops on a large canvas. The drops are then drawn downwards courtesy of gravity, leaving thin colorful line marks.



The Originals Factory was first presented at the DLD Tel Aviv conference in November 2011.



The graphical language achieved by this mechanism is a language of lines. Instead of pixels creating the image, we get vertical graphical units, or Vixels.
Our mechanism allows us to control a few parameters for each such Vixel; its Horizontal position, length and color.



Other types of online data were used for prints, such as Google Trends and real time generated surveys.





Wrote about the project:

Make Magazine
Hackaday
Laughing Squid

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Interactive bus stop for Pepsi Max

Directed by Vania Heymann | Sound by Roy Kafri


An interactive bus stop in Tel Aviv, made for Pepsi Max Isreal with Alenbi Concept House.


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Cellular Graffiti Printer | 2011



What if people would expose and visualize their SMS text messages on buildings? If your Facebook status would be printed on a real, physical wall? What if you really checked in when you check in?
The wall printer takes the wall status concept back to physical dimensions.
Wall Printer
Inspired by old-school pin printers, the wall printer is a manually held device using seven markers to print digital messages on any flat surface. Seven individually controlled servo motors move the markers up and down, drawing dots and dashes.
When you manually slide the printer over a wall, the servo motions are carefully timed to produce text messages.

Connected to a cell phone, the printer can be directly fed by SMS text messages, Facebook statuses, GPS coordinates or practically by any other digital data source.
It uses a IOIO board to connect the physical electronic parts to an Android device and control them from an Android application.

This project was done with help and advice by Ytai Ben Tsvi, IOIO inventor and friend :)



Sweet Tech Studio
Sweet Tech Studio and IOIO






Wrote about the project:

Make Magazine
Engadget
Neatorama
Next President
Talk Android
Cube Me
Microsiervos (Spanish)
Creep.ru (Russian)
Androidworld.it (Italian)
Semageek (French)

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Robotic drums party installation | 2011



Robotic drumsticks were playing on steel barrels at an abandoned textile factory party, Bar Yochai, Tel Aviv.
Beats were generated automatically, at real time, according to the music played by the DJ.

The system listens to the music played, analyses it and controls the drumstick's beats accordingly.
People choose which drumstick play at any given time by making shadows on them.

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Robotic Drums | 2010

by Jonathan Rubin, Liat Segal & Assaf Talmudi 18 Darbuka drums and 36 robotic arms are controlled via wireless communication. Drum music is composed and played at a music sequencer on an iPad.


The project was presented at the Bat-Yam international biennale of landscape urbanism, September 2010, as a part of the 'Green to Blue' ecological street project, by Matanya Sack and Uri Reicher. During the biennale, electricity generated by wind turbines and photovoltaic cells was used to operate the robotic Darbuka drums. The drums were mounted on the wind turbines columns, creating a hybrid, digital-mechanic drumming circle, a futuristic-traditional acoustic space.



Thanks to Ben Handler and Eyal Talmudi for playing with us! :)





The making of...




So, what do we have here... 18 darbuka drums, each drum is played with two sticks mounted on servo motors and is lit by a super-bright 1W LED. We chose to use drum sticks mounted on servos (rather than the traditionally used solenoids) in order to achieve a powerful sound accompanied by a visual effect of a drumming circle.

Each of the 36 servos and 18 LEDs is controlled independently in real-time. In order to play (and light) our drums, we needed to control 54 channels wirelessly. To this aim, we built nine control units, each consisting of an Arduino and a XBee radio transceiver. Each unit was designed to control two drums (4 servos and 2 LEDs):

Two digital servos with attached drum sticks and a super-bright 1W LED were installed on each of the 18 Darbuka drums

A master netbook, running Max/MSP, sends control commands wirelessly (via XBee radio transceiver) to all control units.

As a final touch, we added an iPad interface to give an easy and intuitive way to interact with the installation. OSC protocol was used for wireless communication between the master netbook and the iPad (via Wi-Fi).



Three modes for playing the drums in real-time have been designed. The Sequencer mode allows composing specific beats for each of the 36 drum sticks. At this mode users can design and play loops and when happy with a loop, save it as a preset. Users can shift between previously saved presets at Presets mode.
Users can also play the drums by 'hitting them' at a location based Intuitive jamming mode.

At both the Sequencer and the Presets modes, the user can control the BPM of the loop by either switching a dial or shaking the iPad at the desired tempo.
Additionally, the user can switch between parts of the loop (and either play the entire loop, 1/2, 1/4 or 1/8th of it).

iPad interfaces












Wrote about the project:

Make Magazine
The Next Web
Gadgetbox
Hack a Day
Haaretz (Hebrew)
PadGadget
PadMania (German)
VIPad.fr (French)

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Non Newtonian Fluids


Rivers and creatures of cornflour vibrated on speakers...
Non Newtonian fluid Non Newtonian fluid






Or as wiki describes... "A non-Newtonian fluid is a fluid whose flow properties are not described by a single constant value of viscosity"...
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DIY Multi touch screen


Our low cost multi touch screen was built using the frustrated total internal reflection principle.
Total reflection occurs when light travels from a medium with a high refractive index to a medium with a lower one. The light is then trapped within the first medium.
In our case the Infra-Red beam of light, transmitted by IR LEDS, remains trapped inside an acryl surface, since the refractive index of the acryl is higher than that of the air surrounding it. When touching the acryl surface, light bounces off the finger out of the surface.



The touch-screen is composed of an acryl surface, a standard projector connected to a PC, a mirror, an IR-sensitive webcam and a foldable, portable construction:



The acryl surface is used both to display the PC output and to sense user's input.
The acryl is coated with diluted silicon which enhances the amount of reflected IR light due to user's applied pressure on the screen.
Then, a sketch paper sheet is placed on the silicon layer to protect and isolate it. A diffusing material is layered on top of the sketch paper. The diffuser is semi transparent, allowing quality projection, on the one hand, and blocking access visible light from the other side of the screen.

The entire surface is framed with an aluminum frame which has 112 IR LEDs drilled into. The LEDs' tips, sticking out of the frame, are coated with black silicon. This is done to reduce IR light spilling in the wrong direction.
To keep everything together and protected from short circuits, a wooden frame is applied around the screen.

The 112 IR LEDs in the aluminum frame are divided into 14 sub-circuits, each containing 8 LEDs and one resistor. The 14 sub-circuits are connected in parallel, producing a circuit that consumes 1.4Amps and 12Volts. It is powered by a standard PC power supplier which is short circuited to work without a motherboard.

The reflected IR light is detected by an IR-sensitive webcam. We used the Microsoft VX-1000 webcam. To make the camera sensitive to IR light we removed its internal IR Filter. To make it insensitive to visible light we applied several layers of burnt camera film.


This project was done as a part of the Out Of the Box Week #IV at Microsoft Innovation Labs, Israel, by Hen Fitoussi, Kfir Karmon, Omer Ramot & me.

Helpful Sites

NUI group
Instructables - Interactive Multitouch Display
Instructables - Back projection 56 inch multitouch television

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~ SEND YOUR SOUNDS ~ | Plate Recorder

In collaboration with Roy Maayan



~ SEND US YOUR SOUNDS ~
and we will record the sound waves on ceramic plates.

Plates will be exhibited during Jerusalem Design Week.
A custom-made machine will etch the sound waves on ceramic plates, creating ‘ceramic records’.

~ WE ARE LOOKING FOR SOUNDS WITH STORIES ~
Send us any sound that is meaningful to you.
It can be your kid's first giggle or maybe the thunders you recorded with your loved one, a song, a story or any other sound that is significant to you.
Write a few words describing the sound plus the date and place of the recording (if you know them).

~ HOW ~
Send sound\video files via your favorite platform (dropbox\wetransfer\googleDrive\pigeon\...) to
plate.recorder@gmail.com

Don't forget to also send a short text + date + place.
The plates will be displayed anonymously, with a short title regarding their contents and the date and place of the recording (if known).
(* if you send a video we will only use its sound)

*** Please send us only files that you have the legal rights on. By sending us the files you are agreeing that we use them for the artwork Plate Recorder ❤




At times of information overload, we are constantly exposed to visual, auditory, and textual inputs. Social networks and news feed create new expression channels, yet, at the same time, challenge our ability to genuinely hear, see, and touch.

Plate Recorder is a digital era homage to analog, connecting sound, visual and matter in the physical domain. Ready-made ceramic plates are used as a medium for recording local real-time sounds. A custom-built painting machine is etching sound waves, creating ‘ceramic records’. Recorded plates are collected, creating a physical archive of sound and being.





The project was first exhibited at the Cluj Ceramics Biennale, 2017. Read more here!

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Vessel Streaming | Ship Trajectories Drawings | Catalogue

> Read more about Vessel Streaming


> Vessel Streaming | Solo Exhibition | Zero1 Festival | 2018
> 50x70 cm | ink, paper | electronics, mechanics, software
> Drawing name: Latitude SW , Longitude SW, Latitude NE , Longitude NE
> 🔴 = sold

* Click images to zoom-in


🔴 #1
46.0562958165, -1.3310712995
46.1680912299, -1.21798043344
🔴 #2
46.1286266236, -1.25932441205
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#3
46.0576235599, -1.29060410419
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#4
46.0451203067, -1.2525388239
46.0502402471, -1.24649918545




#5
49.3436804855, 0.798559451775
49.5127487853, 0.994719215298
🔴 #6
45.9204532629, -1.52255086738
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#7
47.1746619452, -4.91223716304
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#8
46.1307011546, -1.1768503575
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#9
45.3123059007, -1.26093704538
45.4931805324, -1.21160760037
#10
49.1682218061, -0.358792145317
49.7114530404, 1.15139068623




#11
51.444002659, 0.172157436841
51.5062704863, 0.695036589626
#12
46.0451203067, -1.2525388239
46.0502402471, -1.24649918545




#13
47.1746619452, -4.91223716304
48.3823053849, -2.58226901418
#14
47.289217387, -3.11450874924
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#15
47.1263758533, -2.45915020671
47.129818876, -2.4530329916
#16
42.846202, -10.5790817355
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#17
45.3123059007, -1.26093704538
45.4931805324, -1.21160760037
#18
46.0726261978, -1.2415914722
46.076902579, -1.23681754092




#19
46.0576235599, -1.2681130104
46.0630628267, -1.26077593313
#20
48.1165641593, -5.23264497073
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#21
49.1682218061, -0.358792145317
49.7114530404, 1.15139068623
#22
46.056218226, -1.28016761496
46.0912424888, -1.25180043033




🔴 #23
46.0450656152, -1.25207443615
46.0502075845, -1.24639866571
#24
49.389010135, -0.051253075763
49.5582462371, 0.870257298654




#25
48.1165641593, -5.23264497073
48.2558472982, -5.12947227528
#26
46.1307011546, -1.1768503575
46.1652707151, -1.14106783003




#27
46.6542374437, -6.35786077847
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#28
46.2110218881, -1.58014032747
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#29
46.141383546, -1.24552102002
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#30
50.9189528156, -5.9823577996
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#31
46.0759879975, -1.8740930232
46.5289081615, -1.50056543064
#32
50.3557064898, 0.391964682428
51.1654921807, 1.63363607527




#33
48.1165641593, -5.23264497073
48.2558472982, -5.12947227528
#34
46.086304557, -1.25839938435
46.0873740457, -1.2545265392




#35
46.9863581165, -2.66177222164
47.0701805548, -2.49089243245
#36
46.1464467355, -1.16727041961
46.1466009049, -1.16712951206




#37
46.1546098596, -1.2366936434
46.1605653215, -1.22690384295
#38
42.846202, -10.4056069017
45.6133884406, -6.93611022464





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