LEGO WeDo SpinArt 'Bot


During my six week gig at the Westport Library, a crowd favorite was the LEGO WeDo SpinArt 'Bot that I created with my son. For the big crowds, however, I adapted a model from @Zackboston to make bigger, messier art.

First, the turntable was geared to spin even faster.



A lasagne pan with a duct tape collar helped contain the mess.



The young and old alike enjoyed using it!








One thing that is exciting about taking something you make into the public is how people use it in unexpected ways. This young man used markers on the paper. It produced distinct spirals.





The senior citizens also had fun with it in their LEGO WeDo/Scratch engineering and programming class.










SpinArt has a low barrier to entry, allows you to experiment with different media, such as ink or paint, and produces random, exceptionally beautiful art. Build a turntable today with your LEGO WeDo kit, program it to spin in Scratch, and start spinning some art!

Comments

zackboston said…
Josh,

How sweet of you to mention me.

I have also been thinking about how to make these into object that people want to keep and put up in their homes.

I have a bunch of old overhead transparencies someone donated. I was thinking about the dia de muertos activity and printing the sugar skull pattern on the overhead transparencies, then laminating them and putting a hole in them to make them into suncatchers for windows.

The youth suggested this same approach to making backpack tags (they would have to be smaller).

What do you think?

With great respect and love (the only truly renewable and sustainable source of energy in the universe),
Susan
Josh Burker said…
That transparency film sounds like the basis for a great project.

How about a homebrew magic lantern?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_lantern

Print the image on the transparency. Use either the LED flash from the user's mobile phone or a simple circuit with a white LED as the light source. The image could be projected onto walls, buildings, etc.