Automata!

For the past few weeks, we have spent our Wednesday afternoons trying to make our own automata. The theme was "I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside" and inspiration was to be found from things like Juan Fontanive's "ornithology", Keith Newstead's work (which can be found here) and the book "Automata and Mechanical Toys" by Rodney Peppe.   

Ornithology, 2013 flip book machine from Juan Fontanive on Vimeo.

This one by Keith Newstead seemed appropriate for the theme:


But this one is my personal favourite:


I was confused by this brief at first and didn't really know what to do with it. It seemed like a nice idea but I just couldn't wrap my head around the little mechanisms and how to combine them with my ideas, which ranged from mermaids to musical hall performers via hurricanes. I settled on what seemed like a more simple idea: a dog swimming after a ball while the owner waves in the background.

I thought of using wave-shaped disks that would turn for the waves.This didn't work for the frontal view I wanted; I needed the waves to bob up and down.

When we finally went to the wood workshop to make a first prototype something clicked. It helped to be faced with the fact that I actually had to do it now. It still needs work (I forgot to plan a space for the dog and the man isn't finished) but I understand the mechanics much better now.   

The string will pull down the man's arms and the cams will make the waves go up and down. I used two different cams to make them move a bit differently.

This is what the little man looks like so far:

First test to see how to make it work:

            

What I have got so far (with Styrofoam waves in the background) :