Gizmodo: itp 2008

Bristlebots + Paint = Robo-Pollocks?

Kit Eaton — Fri, 16 May 2008 05:48:00 EDT

At the spring arts ITP show the other day, designer Christian Cerrito had a demonstration which will have had bristlebot designers everywhere smacking their foreheads in a "My god, that's obvious!" manner. He used a big tray, a bunch of the simple and strangely lovable DIY bristlebots and a few gobs of paint and voilà: new artworks were created. There's even some science in there: the random walk of the bots is affected by the viscosity of the paint, so as the painting gets bigger, it gets more complex, in an interestingly chaotic manner. More interesting than Jackson Pollock's splattery art? Well... maybe, if you're a robot geek. [ITP via Bot Junkie]

NYU Student Creates Virtual Girlfriend—Shame She's Only 2D

AddyDugdale — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:20:00 EDT

Created with lonely people in mind, Drew Burrows' INBED is an "infrared-sensitive" light projected virtual girlfriend. A sexy brunette, she's got about three tricks up her sleeve—and she does all of them from a supine position.

Kiss her on the cheek when you slide into bed and she'll bury her face in the pillow. Hmmm, that sounds wrong. She moves into a spoon position if you're on your side, and snuggles up beside you when you're on your back. Cute.

There are, however, two drawbacks to Drew's invention, which he was showing off at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program Spring Show at Tisch School of the Arts: first, she's only 2D, and second, she's fully clothed. Some guys may want to wait for version 2.0. [New York Magazine]

VoodooBuddy Combines Ancient Curses with Modern Technology

Benny Goldman — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:45:00 EDT

With the VoodooBuddy doll, you can finally stop wondering if your pin-pricks-in-effigy are all for naught. Just fire up the VoodooBuddy website, plug in your boss's (or ex, mother-in-law, etc.) contact info, grab the doll and poke away. Pricking certain places on the doll curses your target, who is notified of their plight via text message and e-mail. Be careful not to curse your enemy too much; if you overload the VoodooBuddy it will take your picture with its built-in camera, send it to your victim, and reverse the curses onto you. The doll was designed by Rodrigo de Benito and Zannah Marsh, two ITP students you clearly shouldn't upset. Great work, guys! [VoodooBuddy; ITP 2008]

Simon Stabs Game Channels Your Inner Bishop

Benny Goldman — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:45:00 EDT

Remember that scene in Aliens with Bishop and the knife? ITP student Aram Chang made a nerve-racking game out of it. In Simon Stabs, you and your opponent take turns sticking a "knife" between your fingers, making a pattern that must be mimicked by the other guy, who then adds to it. You only have a few seconds to stab; one false move and you lose—hopefully just the game and not any fingers. I tested it out, and as you can see from the video, I'm no android. And I didn't even have the added pressure of Bill Paxton screaming like a sissy. In case you forgot how the pros do it, Bishop's clip is below. [Aram Chang; ITP 2008]

Inventor Demos Soft Pneumatic Exoskeleton, a Good Getaway Suit

Wilson Rothman — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:45:00 EDT

We caught a quick glimpse of the Soft Pneumatic Exoskeleton before, but here inventor Che-Wei Wang demonstrates it on himself, explaining how the system gives added power to limbs at key moments. He can power it with a mini scuba tank or one of those CO2 cartridge for pellet guns, but the usage is limited by the capacity of gas you can carry. Ideal scenarios he says include hard landings—dudes involved in "parkour" street jumping could use it to avoid ripping up their kneecaps. Wang says future applications include a memory mode, where a famous athlete wears it to capture some signature maneuver that some punkass non-athlete can then copy, just by donning the same model exoskeleton and jacking the software. How's that for Johnny Mnemonic meets The Matrix meets Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure? [CWWang.com; ITP 2008]

Full-Body Virtual Foosball Game Called Ukikit (Get It?)

Wilson Rothman — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:15:00 EDT

The Wii-volution is in full effect at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program—a perfect example is this physical virtual foosball game called Ukikit. You Velcro a pink strap to your foot, and an iSight camera tracks its movement while a sonar sensor tracks your proximity. The data translates into swivel kicks and side-to-side slides in (almost) realtime. I loved playing it with inventor Thomas Chan almost as much as I enjoyed the "Moving Parts" virtual pinball game, but as you can see in the video, both the system and I both need a little more practice before we're perfect. [Ukikit; ITP 2008]

Rope and Pulley DJ Machine: Move the Beat To Your Body

Wilson Rothman — Tue, 13 May 2008 00:30:00 EDT

Today at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Show, I discovered my next workout machine: Michael Chladil's Rope and Pulley. Seriously, gone are the elliptical and the rowing machine—I'm going to install this and do the silly dance you see above every day, until I'm at least as fit as any Wii could make me.

Each of the four ropes you see controls a different looped sample: drums on my left hand, keys on my right, with electronic bass and some kind of FX thing rounding it out. As you see, when I rock it solo—my giddy look notwithstanding—it just sounds damn good, but when the inventor himself joins in, it's better still. Pedals on the floor restart each loop, so that you can tap it into place.

This is just one component of Michael's Lost/Found project—in the video you can see another pulley contraption he uses to draw circles, creating literal "feedback loops" of sound. Chladil's goal is not to make the next Soloflex, but to help non musicians access music making in a more natural, gestural way. For better or worse, that's also the goal of the inventors of the Beamz laser lute. Fortunately for Chladil, not all appendages can be used to tug ropes (last we checked). [Ropeandpulley.com]

Teste Touch: Deez Nuts Are Made for Ticklin'

Benny Goldman — Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

The Teste Touch, a humongous pair of testicles swinging from the ceiling, were a big hit at NYU's ITP showcase tonight. As you can see in the video, the nuts are designed to reflect a real scrotum, expanding and contracting based on the outside environment.

The Teste Touch's built-in temperature sensor lets it respond to heat like real testicles; when it's cold, the balls shrivel up like George Costanza's, and when it's warm, they look like something you'd find in a JCC steam room. When tickled or touched, the sac moves and giggles, and while this may not be totally accurate, it is entertaining.

Jason Krugman, Stella Kim, and Ben Chao, the three students who masterminded the whimsical Teste Touch, kept it pube-free on purpose; they wanted the balls to be friendly and huggable, and not, you know, gross or anything.
[TesteTouch]

Virtual Pinball Game "Moving Parts" Addictive Even In Cooperation Mode

Wilson Rothman — Mon, 12 May 2008 23:30:00 EDT

Today, when we visited NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program spring 2008 show, we were immediately drawn to "Moving Parts," a crazy pinball game that's the brainchild and thesis of physical-interaction designer Daniel Soltis. It's made of real wood, with wooden buttons and plungers, but the board itself is empty, and stays that way. The game you see is merely a projection from above, but man does it feel real.

The experience is so immersive you forget that it's not real—no wonder real pinball is on the endangered-species list. The virtual kind gives you different types of play, four in fact:
• Cooperative, where you have two paddles on your side and one on your partner's side, and you both share a score
• Synchronized, where both sides tap the buttons simultaneously to make the paddles swing fully, so you lose if your partner doesn't help
• Competitive, straight-up pinballin'
• Multiball! You'll see this one at the end of the video, a total clusterfuck with balls flying everywhere

I give Daniel bonus points for cool virtual realism: The actual wooden playing board peaks in the middle, sloping downward. The virtual balls react to this, slowing as they roll uphill to the middle, then speeding up as they roll towards either end.

It was so much fun I almost forgot to ask what the point was. Daniel says that in the age of Wii, it's important to study interaction of players who are not necessarily competitors. Also, he likes to observe how mechanics affect gameplay. We couldn't get Daniel to admit he was merely trying to come up with a great game to sell to bars, but hell if he didn't invent that too. [Moving Parts; ITP]