All work

Tammy

Instrument

Six feet tall and the largest robot in the Machine Orchestra, designed in collaboration with kinetic sculptor Trimpin. Includes a marimba spine, hand-tuned to an octave pentatonic scale in Honduran rosewood and struck from the front by push solenoids, alongside a plucked-string instrument and five found-object bells.

2009.
Domed brass bell bolted to a stand above a wooden crossbar, lit amber against a dark room
The full robot from below on a darkened stage, a tall column of tubing, solenoids and wiring against stage lights
Wooden bars stacked in a vertical ladder up a steel column, wire hooks and cabling running between them
Close view of cylindrical push solenoids bolted along an aluminium rail, one with its coiled striker shaft extended
Brass tube frame with horizontal striker rods aimed at dark rectangular blocks, three tiers deep
Macro of a labelled solenoid clamped to a steel bracket, its ball-tipped beater resting below

Next project

Hypersax