Imagine building a mechanical character from a computer program that could calculate the size and positioning of gears in order to make that character’s motions come alive. The team at Disney Research have designed and programmed this interface for non-experts, and have 3D printed the resulting objects: Computational Design of Mechanical Characters.
The video presentation could definitely use a bit of background music or narration, but it’s still fascinating to watch and great for discussion. The content is also groundbreaking for automata, self-operating, moving mechanical devices that look like robots or living things.
Related video watching: kinetic sculptures, gears, toys, and spirographish things.
via The Automata Blog.
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