Monday, June 04, 2007

Build Branching Lamps in Minutes

Bruce Shapiro's Light Socket Branching Tree

While at Maker Faire, I met the inspiring Bruce Shapiro who will change the way that you think about stepper motors and the math that can push them. Cool stuff and inspired machines. Whether dragging a ball through sand, pushing a pen around a light bulb, or cutting metal with plasma, he forces you to think about how to push objects through space. On a smaller scale, on a Hooptyrides accessible scale, when I saw his branching bulb splitter tree I had to yell out, 'I did that too! Sorta.'

Lamp at Hooptyrides, Inc.

Cool new technologies open up cutting edge opportunities for exploration every day, but extremely mature technologies can offer a very deep arsenal of building blocks. Stop thinking about plumbing supplies, electrical conduit and light bulb sockets as home improvement products but instead as mature, modular building solutions that have an engineered solution for every obstacle.