Electromechanical Awesomeness

Greg Borenstein and I are collaborating on a project that I'll post more about soon...in the meantime, wanted to share some footage that Greg captured at the Museum Mechanique in San Francisco. I especially love the ball return feature in the bowling game.

Mustache Pull Toy on Etsy

Saw this mustache pull toy today on Etsy.

Had to share.

Toy Record Players // Music Boxes

Continuing to look at sound toys, here's a glance at toy records. The pic comes from this site where there are a few other tiny toy record players.

These toys have crossover with music boxes in general, which is basically what the the Fisher Price classic is, sample video below:

And, don't forget the Chu Bops, records made from bubblegum, although I don't think they actually played music:

Brett Murphy's SoundStage

Continuing with the sound toy research, here's a really awesome project by fellow ITP classmate and graduate, Brett Murphy. As you move the markers around the table, the sounds move around the room. This was obviously a big hit with kids, but I was further impressed by the experience of the table as an art piece, or, a toy for adults. The collage of sounds as they intermingled, collided, and drifted apart is really a unique experience to directly interact with.

Totem by Dan Henriksson

Researching sound toys today and came across this nice prototype by Dan Henriksson.

Description:

Sound-tweaking toy based on different characters made of wood, with super magnets on top and bottom. Each has built-in speakers and technology to synchronize with one another. These Orchestral Modules can be stacked in any order in totem-pole style. Depending on how they are placed and moved around, they interact and produce sounds together.

The Circus, by Gabriela Gutierrez and Eric Hagan

A couple fellow ITP classmates, Gabriela Gutierrez and Eric Hagan, put together a really nice circus play set for their Mechanisms final project. Citing Calder's circus as an inspiration, I was really impressed by their collection of gears and mechanisms combining to form a marvelously cohesive composition of awesomeness.

They posted a lot of great documentation with videos and images, so check it all out!

Global Green Pals

The mask on this little guy caught my eye, and then I noticed his name on the tag, Carbon Offset Chet. So, I snapped a few pics and have enjoyed checking out the web site this afternoon.

Global Green Pals