Hybrid Hacked Vocaid Incantor
Both Tommy and Patrick contributed custom circuitry to this device. There are two loop switches and three glitch switches, as well as pitch control. Tommy finished the exterior.
Untitled Dark Keyboard
Presented with a found keyboard, we installed a classic clock bend with three pitch electrodes.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
Roth Mobot Back from OFFF Paris 2010
Roth Mobot was invited to conduct a presentation about, and performance of, their DIY approach to soundscape production using their homemade electronic devices and circuit bent toys at the 10th annual OFFF Design Conference. The festival was huge, taking up multiple floors of Paris' La Grande Halle de La Villette. We have tons of photos and videos, not only from the festival itself, but from our brief stay in the City of Lights.
OFFF Paris 2010 Opening Titles
Created by the Academy Award winning design team, The Mill
Roth Mobot's Presentation & Performance at OFFF
OFFF Paris 2010 Opening Titles
Created by the Academy Award winning design team, The Mill
Roth Mobot's Presentation & Performance at OFFF
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Roth Mobot at OFFF Festival in Paris!
Roth Mobot is performing opening night at the OFFF Festival in Paris, France.
The three-day OFFF Festival is more than a design conference, it's a digital multimedia festival. OFFF is spreading the work of a generation of makers, inventors, and artists that are setting new limits by growing with recent technology and receiving inspiration from a whole new tool set.
This is such an unusual and excellent gig for us that it requires a little extra attention. Although the festival is paying for our flight and our hotel accommodations, we still have to pay for our food, and to ship our equipment across the Atlantic (twice).
We have set up a Donate button on our web site. It's a secure connection to PayPal where any small donation would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you send us your postal address we will send you a post card from Paris! We leave this Tuesday and our goal is $500. Thank you.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Third Annual Experimental Garage Sale
Experimental Garage Sale 2010, June 5th. Noon-5PM
5925 N Ravenswood, Chicago, IL 60660 (map) 773-769-1069
Circuit Bent Instruments, Un-Bent Gear, Parts, Vintage Components, Guitar Pedals, Custom Lamps, GetLoFi Kits, and More! WITH SPECIAL DRAWING AT 3:00 PM!! Prizes include custom devices and electronics kits from the Midwest's premier experimental electronics artists including Roth Mobot, Talking Computron, Reed Ghazala, and MORE!
10 Sellers!More Info:
- Tommy S. rothmobot.com
- Patrick M. rothmobot.com
- Mike aa9il.com
- Steve site.properboy.com
- thejunkyard catalist myspace.com/ThriftsoreBoratorium
- Creme Dementia myspace.com/CremeDeMentia
- GetLoFi.com getlofi.com
- Low-Gain lowgain-audio.com
- Tim Kaiser htimkaiser.org
- Buck stevenbuck.us/
http://www.gelofi.com
http://www.experimentalsoundstudio.org/
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Arduino / Hacked Toy Internet Alert Circuit
Overview
Zach Kaplan recently invited Roth Mobot to the Chicago offices of Inventables to lead their monthly Lab session wherein guests speak about the various recent crossovers of technology and creativity. At first we were asked to conduct a hands-on toy hacking session with Inventables' employees, but about a week before our arrival we were given the circuit bending challenge of creating an "interface between the Internet and a common circuit bent toy."
Basic Data Flow
Vactrol Construction
We've included a diagram of how to build a Vactrol. All you need is a bright LED, and a Cadmium Sulfide photo resistor. We used black epoxy for our casing.
Arduino / Vactrol Hook Up
We plugged the Vactrol's LED's ground lead into the Arduino's ground socket, and it's positive lead into the Arduino's number 13 socket. We used socket number 13 because it has a built in resistor.
Vactrol / Hacked Toy Hook Up
We then connected the two leads from the Vactrol's photo resistor to two leads coming out of a hacked police truck toy. The beauty of this approach is that it doesn't matter what the voltage of the toy is or whether it's "voltage triggered" or "ground triggered."
Video of Circuit in Action
Now when someone logs into our web site the circuit bent police truck toy lights up and says, "Slow down, pull over!" in a demonic voice.
Sample PHP Code
We embedded this common basic hit counter in our home page
This is the Python script that runs on the computer attached to the Arduino and the hacked toy. It requires the PySerial library extension to be installed. The only part of the code we had to change was the Arduio's serial port and the location of the TXT file being generated by the PHP script on our server. (highlighted below).
This code was originally used to activate a servo motor. We Frankensteined it with some other code to light the Vactrol's LED.
Zach Kaplan recently invited Roth Mobot to the Chicago offices of Inventables to lead their monthly Lab session wherein guests speak about the various recent crossovers of technology and creativity. At first we were asked to conduct a hands-on toy hacking session with Inventables' employees, but about a week before our arrival we were given the circuit bending challenge of creating an "interface between the Internet and a common circuit bent toy."
Basic Data Flow
We decided to create a circuit that would activate a toy whenever someone logged into Roth Mobot's web site. We designed a simple and elegant solution using an Arduino, a homemade Vactrol, a common electronic toy, and three simple scripts written in different programming languages. We'd like to thank William Swyter for lending us his Arduino, and Factory Smoke for his Vactrol suggestion, which stopped us from creating overly-complicated custom circuitry with transistors and diodes, and made the programming a piece of cake. The result was an elegant circuit that electrically insulates the toy from the Arduino (and the computer) by "optically coupling" them with light.
Vactrol Construction
We've included a diagram of how to build a Vactrol. All you need is a bright LED, and a Cadmium Sulfide photo resistor. We used black epoxy for our casing.
Arduino / Vactrol Hook Up
We plugged the Vactrol's LED's ground lead into the Arduino's ground socket, and it's positive lead into the Arduino's number 13 socket. We used socket number 13 because it has a built in resistor.
Vactrol / Hacked Toy Hook Up
We then connected the two leads from the Vactrol's photo resistor to two leads coming out of a hacked police truck toy. The beauty of this approach is that it doesn't matter what the voltage of the toy is or whether it's "voltage triggered" or "ground triggered."
Video of Circuit in Action
Now when someone logs into our web site the circuit bent police truck toy lights up and says, "Slow down, pull over!" in a demonic voice.
Sample PHP Code
We embedded this common basic hit counter in our home page
<?php $count_my_page = ("hitcounter.txt");Sample Python Code
$hits = file($count_my_page);
$hit = trim($hits[0]);
$hit++;
$fp = fopen($count_my_page , "w");
fputs($fp , "$hit");
fclose($fp);
echo $hit;
?>;
This is the Python script that runs on the computer attached to the Arduino and the hacked toy. It requires the PySerial library extension to be installed. The only part of the code we had to change was the Arduio's serial port and the location of the TXT file being generated by the PHP script on our server. (highlighted below).
# fetch txt fileSample Arduino Code
import time
import urllib
import serial
# USB serial connection to Arduino
ser = serial.Serial(
'com4', 115200)
myUrl = 'http://www.YOURWEBSITE.COM/hitcounter.txt'
last_counter = urllib.urlopen(myUrl).read()
while (True):
counter = urllib.urlopen(myUrl).read()
delta = int(counter) - int(last_counter)
print "counter: %s, delta: %s" % (counter, delta)
ser.write(chr(ord(chr(delta))))
last_counter = counter
time.sleep(10)
This code was originally used to activate a servo motor. We Frankensteined it with some other code to light the Vactrol's LED.
int ledPin = 13;
int minPulse = 0;
int maxPulse = 10;
int pulse = 0;
int rings = 0;
long nextMillis = 0;
long lastPulse = 0;
int refreshTime = 200;
int state = 0;
void setup() {
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
pulse = minPulse;
Serial.begin(115200);
}
#define PULSE_ON 0
#define WAIT_PULSE_ON 1
#define PULSE_OFF 2
#define WAIT_PULSE_OFF 3
void loop() {
if (Serial.available() > 0) {
rings += Serial.read();
Serial.println(rings);
}
if (rings > 0) {
digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); // LED on
delay(200); // wait
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW); // LED off
}
if (rings = 0) {
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW); // LED off
}
}
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Midwest Inventors Earth Day Virtual Concert
Thursday, April 22, 2010, 7:00 PM
In an effort to reduce their collective Carbon footprint, Midwest Experimental Electronic Musicians explore webcasting as a means of production and performance. Artists include Tim Kaiser, Pelzwik, Roth Mobot, Welcome Tomerica, and Michael Una.
In an effort to reduce their collective Carbon footprint, Midwest Experimental Electronic Musicians explore webcasting as a means of production and performance. Artists include Tim Kaiser, Pelzwik, Roth Mobot, Welcome Tomerica, and Michael Una.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Experimental Electronics News
The Rubber Monkey Puppet Company has officially delegated its Experimental Electronics Department to Roth Mobot. From here on out, all associated responsibilities, workshops, lectures, and performances will be handled by the circuit bent duo. In turn, Roth Mobot has become the first official subsidiary of The RMPC.
2. Upcoming Electronics Workshops
This class shows how simple electronics construction can be while emphasizing the basics of soldering, following an electronics diagram, custom circuit design, circuit construction, and finishing techniques. No previous electronics experience is required! More information can be found on our 'Workshops' page.
Introduction to Circuit Bending
Introduction to Circuit Bending
- Tuesday, April 13, 7:00 - 10:00 PM
T R A N S IS T O R
This crash course in Circuit Bending teaches basic soldering skills, how to explore a pre-existing circuit, and how to hack a common toy into a unique instrument. No previous electronics experience is required! More information can be found on our 'Workshops' page.
3. Awards
- Best Presentation, ORD Camp 2010
Roth Mobot was invited to ORD Camp 2010, a lateral conference of the Midwest's leading technological thinkers (sponsored by google and Inventables, and hosted at UIC's Innovation Center). Patrick McCarthy's presentation "Introduction to Circuit Bending" featuring live toy hacking and a demo of video modding, won the Best Presentation, ORD Camp 2010 Award.
- Prix Ars Electronics 2010, Digital Communities
4. OFFF Festival in Paris
OFFF International Festival for the Post-Digital Creation Culture
June 24, 25, 26, 2010 Roth Mobot is being flown to Paris to perform on the frontline of digital arts events at La Grande Halle de La Villette for the OFFF Festival. OFFF has become a synonym for modernity, both aesthetic and technological. OFFF is spreading the work of a generation of creators that are breaking all kinds of limits - focusing on those separating the commercial arena from the worlds of art and design. Wish us luck on getting our suitcases full of hacked electronics onto the plane. Any advice would be appreciated.
June 24, 25, 26, 2010 Roth Mobot is being flown to Paris to perform on the frontline of digital arts events at La Grande Halle de La Villette for the OFFF Festival. OFFF has become a synonym for modernity, both aesthetic and technological. OFFF is spreading the work of a generation of creators that are breaking all kinds of limits - focusing on those separating the commercial arena from the worlds of art and design. Wish us luck on getting our suitcases full of hacked electronics onto the plane. Any advice would be appreciated.
5. The Weekly eSymposium
EVERY Saturday, 12:00 noon - 3:00 PM
Lizard's Liquid Lounge, 3058 W Irving Park Rd, (773) 463-7599
To nurture the Midwest experimental electronics community, we host a free weekly "eSymposium," an interactive lecture series where participants are both teachers and students. There's soldering, tinkering, Q&A, show-&-tell, bending circuits, hacking toys, recycling discarded electronics and batteries, and Chicago's only weekly Circuit Bent Open Mic. Stop by, join the eSymposium's Google Group, or check out our work at youtube.com/eSymposiumChicago and soundcloud.com/
Lizard's Liquid Lounge, 3058 W Irving Park Rd, (773) 463-7599
To nurture the Midwest experimental electronics community, we host a free weekly "eSymposium," an interactive lecture series where participants are both teachers and students. There's soldering, tinkering, Q&A, show-&-tell, bending circuits, hacking toys, recycling discarded electronics and batteries, and Chicago's only weekly Circuit Bent Open Mic. Stop by, join the eSymposium's Google Group, or check out our work at youtube.com/eSymposiumChicago and soundcloud.com/
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