Category: Robot

STEAM and Active Learning Workshop

9/29/2018

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Click the image to view my SMORE workshop flyer with links to all the resources

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Memoirs of a Robot

8/12/2018

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Early in the summer I received an email from a filmmaker, Mark Elias, who was about to launch a crowdfunding campaign for his next film, Memoirs of a Robot. He had come across a painting I had done of a robot a few years back and asked if I would like to donate a robot painting to his campaign as a perk for donors.

Well, I thought, why not? I hadn't painted robots in awhile, and I wanted to revisit the idea of making robots and animating them with my students. I have a post about my Make it and Move it idea here. So, I went ahead and made Annie Log and mailed it to Mark. I photographed her first and used that image to practice the animation technique I explain in the post.

Annie Log

Animated Annie Log

Do-Dad and Alumi-Mum on the cover of my AR Shutterfly book

Then, I began going bonkers over the idea of painting robots. I called it my robot phase (I might still be in it.) I painted Do-Dad and Alumi-Mum, Polly Phonic, and Anita Toonup. All of these robot paintings are showcased on this blog post. As you can see from the post, I animated each one of the robot paintings so that I would have plenty of examples to show my students when they try the technique this school year. THEN, I received a Shutterfly coupon in the mail. That's when I realized I had enough transdigital pieces of art to fill a Shutterfly book and practice using AR (augmented reality) to make the animations appear over the art. I've seen this technique recently at the ISTE conference and had it in the back of my mind. So, I designed the book, loaded it up with still images of art that I had or intended to animated, added a page with instructions for how to access the AR effects, and set it off to print. I went to HP Reveal studio to build my "auras" by setting the art as the "trigger image" and the animations as the "overlay". When the book arrived all I had to do was use the app to scan over the images and watch the magic.

The Indiegogo Campaign for Memoirs of a Robot will be offering posters of Annie Log as a perk for donations.
You can see Annie Log animate if you receive one of these posters. All you do is:

Download the HP Reveal app to your device
Follow my account Fuglefunart in the app
Use the app to scan the Annie Log Poster from and the animation will play right over Annie Log

Donate Today

A $100 donation to the movie project will get you a Limited Edition Poster of Annie Log
(that will move with augmented reality)

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Robot Paintings with Augmented Reality

7/10/2018

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I was asked to make a robot painting for an upcoming kickstarter as a gift to those who donate. If all works out, Annie Log will become a poster for 100 or so supporters. The instructions I received was to make a robot like the one I made a few years ago and connect it someway to the idea of "love" (hence the heart button).

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Fugleflick Art Bot

11/27/2017

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A group of young engineers, computer programers, and artists gathered in the art room during lunch recesses for a couple months to see what they could make using a Hyperduino, old computer, some cardboard, LEDs, touch pads, and creativity. The results of the collaboration is called a Fugleflick Art Bot. It is an interactive art piece that plays 5 different student-created, art-related movies when you touch a button on the computer screen in its belly with audio coming through the speaker (mouth). The lights are on a circuit made from copper wire and batteries connected to two LED lights behind 3-D glasses. The switch is built into the nose.

Below is a series of photos taken during the creation process. Since we were making discoveries, problem-solving, and working with limited resources, our design changed as we progressed. You'll see the original sketch was for an iPad in the robot belly but then we learned that the hyperduino needed to run in a browser. So, we adapted. The group also changed as we added artists after the engineers wired up the robot. They helped make the robot have a unified design with balanced colors with a brass brad motif.

Interview

We created a youtube playlist for the Fugleflick bot. You can explore the five Fugleflick movies that it is programed to play here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS4LIonCAPBfr0enREOu6HH9BQPf6JaGf
Explore all our Fugleflicks here.

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MAKE IT then MOVE IT: animated GIF

7/7/2017

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A long time ago I responded to Ian Sands on twitter asking for digital images of children's art that he could offer to his high school students to play with as they learn to animate. Some of his students selected my students "He Came with the Chair" paintings. The animations turned out SO adorable and inspiring-see example below or check them all out here. It has been one of my goals to figure out an elementary level lesson with a straightforward app that would give my students the experience of animating their own artwork in the same style. I think I might have figured it out. This technique isn't perfect, but, it will work.

If we had Procreate app: like photoshop

The Brushes Redux app (free) allows you to work with layers like photoshop; select and match colors, use different textured brushes, and save each layer individually-all things needed to make these animations. However, the app does not allow you to select parts of the image. That's how the feet were moved in the animation below. The artist selected the feet, rotated them a bit, and redrew the surrounding space to match. This is the element my students would need to work around unless we purchase Procreate app for the classroom which has all the tools we would need. Sounds like I should write a grant.

Original artwork by a Dryden 2nd grader

Animated using Photoshop by HS student

Alternative plan: Brushes Redux (free)

This alternative solution for making animated GIF using Brushes Redux is to redraw each change in the piece of art. You need to choose a piece of art that has colors, textures, and elements that can easily be REDRAWN since you can't select and move. So, let's look at these portraits of George Washington by second graders. They each have clear and solid black marker lines and a clean opaque paint. It would be easy to redraw the eyes, mouth, nose, or even the wig or shoulders. Here is my first run through:

Original drawing #1

redrawn irises and corners of mouth #2

Redrawn irises, mouth, eyebrows rise #3

Eyelids shutting, blush & smile increase #4

Changed blush, eyelids, mouth #5

These are the five drawings I sent to my camera roll after redrawing some changes to eyes, mouth, eyebrows, and skin color. One trick to make your colors match is by holding and pressing down over a color until the "circle of selection ring" shows up. You can drag that ring over any color you want to match from the painting. Lift up and touch down again and you're ready to paint. It's really quick and easy in this app. If I had trouble making the blush effect blend nicely in #4-#5 so I had to switch brush styles to something more transparent to airbrush it in. I didn't choose white or black to draw with, I chose the white-ish/black-ish color in it for consistency.

Screenshot of George Washington Painting in Brushes Redux

After importing your original image into a layer of Brushes Redux, you need to size it and never change it again. Consistency is really key for making the art look like it is moving. I deleted the extra transparent layer and chose the DUPLICATE button (double square +) from the top bar in the layers. I could only see the top layer so the bottom one didn't distract me, but to make sure I didn't draw on the wrong layer, I LOCK the bottom layer when I'm done with it (touch the lock symbol next to the image layer). I can use the eyeball feature to reveal and hide layers to check on how my changes are looking from one layer to the other. I would try to keep this animation simple by not exceeding 5 layers/drawings. It's hard to see all the layers in the app at one time when you get beyond 4. That can confuse your little artists. When you're ready to save your work: 1. close the eyeball on each layer expect your original (bottom layer), choose save to photos. 2. Open the eyeball on second layer and save to photos. 3. Repeat this until finished. This makes the images in the camera roll stay in order.

Screenshot from ezgif.com preparing animation sequence with duplicates

Now students can go to ezgif.com on their iPads and upload their images into the GIF maker. You'll see above that my five images are made into a sequence of 8 so that it will loop nicely. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 are the drawings. I copied 4 and placed it after 5 so I could start reversing the sequence, followed by a copy of 3 and 2.
Let's spell this out clearly for little artists:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2 (sequence for 5 images in animation)
1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2 (sequence for 4 images in animation)
1, 2, 3, 2 (sequence for 3 images in animation)

Here is how it looks: (I used the crop tool to trim off white edges)

Quick Video Overview:

Use this video to introduce the project and help students see what the process requires.

MAKE IT then MOVE IT: ANIMATED GIF from Tricia Fuglestad on Vimeo.

Thinking this through: (my notes)

Now that we went through the process, I'm trying to think about the age group that would do this project. I think that we could make this work for almost any age if I helped with file management. Brushes Redux will save their work from week to week in their gallery. So this could be a long term drawing project. When students are ready to save, we could upload their image sequence to a folder I make for them on dropbox. The dropbox app gives you the chance to rename a group of files. It becomes their name followed by the number. At this point, the files are safe and ready for uploading to the GIF maker in Ezgif.com. This could be done the following week. I could have them download the images into the camera roll in correct sequence with duplicates included as spelled out above.

Turn in art in order with help of Dropbox

screenshot of Wild Thing- layers in Brushes Redux

Another approach I might go with is to add structure the process since everything about it would be new to young learners. We could all work from the same gallery of images so we can tackle similar problems together. If we worked on, for example, these Wild Things from 1st grade, I could demonstrate how I would animate the eyes, mouth, and the horns. They might make other creative choices, but the problem-solving I demonstrate would transfer easily to their creative solutions.

4 drawings in this sequence: 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2 so it loops nicely

Examples:

The fifth graders' 3/4 pose portrait paintings are perfect for this animation lesson by making subtle changes in the expression. It forces the artist to think about what faces do to express emotion and map out a sequence of drawings to create this expression. This is a different form of expressionism (HA! Art teacher humor).

The fifth grade Light Up Robot painting is fun to animate with moving and blinking.

This 5th grade robot painting didn't have very much detail for me to animate. But, through the magic of digital drawing, I was able to add blinking lights, a moving lever, and a rotating gauge as I animated (see middle robot below).
Going through these steps made me wonder if knowing you are going to animate your robot digitally as an extension to the project would change the way you create it initially.

Added elements as I animated the robot

These first grade Lima Bean Monsters are perfect for this idea with their big features.

Animated Lima Bean Monsters by 1st graders

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Cardboard Light up Moveable Robot

6/19/2017

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I found an advertisement for a pre-made stand up robot craft here. It made the maker in me curious to see if I could make one myself. So, I dug up a thin piece of cardboard and played. As I began cutting and attaching pieces using brad fasteners to give it the look of rivets I realized fasteners also add the option of movement like eyes spinning, levers pivoting, doors opening, and arms flapping. I knew somewhere I would like to attach a switch, circuit, and LED to light up. Since the robot is free standing and made from cardboard it was easy to make the switch and LED pop through the design and attach the circuitry to the back similar to these projects from a previous post or this one with a switch.

B-rad Fastener 9000

Process: designing the robot

After drawing out the basic head, neck, body, and legs I made cardboard pieces for attachments

I pressed through an LED and switch then flipped over the robot to wire him up with copper

Since all the pieces are attached with brads, I can easily take him apart again to paint

Crowdsourcing solutions: using twitter

It was at this point that I realized I could ruin everything if I'm not careful about my approach in painting the robot. So, I composed the following tweet and collage asking followers and anyone who sees what I should do next so the cardboard doesn't curl up.

My Prototype stand-up light-up #Cardboard #robot (named Brad) Q? Will he curl up if I paint him? Any tips? #STEAM #makered #papercircuit thx pic.twitter.com/XPI20TOVA3
— Tricia Fuglestad ☕️ (@fuglefun) June 18, 2017

Here are some of the responses I received; lots of great advice.

Painting the Robot: disassemble, paint, press

I gessoed the pieces on both sides then flattened them under parchment paper and books until dry

Then I painted the front of the robot using a limited color palette to create a balanced design

Complete: B-Rad Fastener the LoveBot

Here is B-Rad Fastener 9000 all assembled, painted, and lit up.

Here is a peek at what's behind the door and a close up of the LOVE-O-METER

If I remove his cardboard pieces that fit into slits at his feet he lays down...so shiny!

Digital Extensions:

Create an advertisement using graphic design techniques to explain the marvels of your creation.
As I was making my robot, I kept thinking about his cool gadgets and what they can do. This is my chance to fully explain B-Rad's coolness to the whole universe.

Create an animation using iMotion app
Show off your robot's moveable parts in a stop-motion animation. Notice the spinning eyes, moving gauge, peeking door, flipping feet, and flapping arms. (Oops, I should have included the blinking light)

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How to Make a Light Up Robot

12/7/2015

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So, if you've been following my posts lately you would notice that I've been working on an idea to incorporate paper circuits into an art-making experience for my students.
See my post where I discovered how to make a circuit & dreamt of a light up robot.
See my post where I made my prototype for a light up robot.
Now, watch my step-by-step video where I try to explain the process here or below.

How to Build a Light Up Robot with Paper Circuits from Tricia Fuglestad on Vimeo.

I wrote up this lesson proposal on Donor's Choose. It has a full list of all the supplies I would need to complete this project with an entire grade level of students. I also included in my supplies some voice recorders so some students could make their robots speak with the touch of a button. I would LOVE to be able to try this light up robot project. Can you help by donating a few dollars?

---->Donate here<----

Thank you !

UPDATE:

Our students finally had a chance to make light up robots. View the movies below of students lighting up their robots and clickhere to view the gallery on Artsonia here.

Light Up Robots 5-2 from Tricia Fuglestad on Vimeo.

Light Up Robots 5-3 from Tricia Fuglestad on Vimeo.

Light Up Robots 5-4 from Tricia Fuglestad on Vimeo.

This project was written about by David Gran in the January 2016 issue of School Arts Magazine.
View the digital version here.

This is just one of 150+ STEAM art lessons I've created and organized into one digital flyer. This link will lead you to all the resources you'll need to add some ART to your Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math curriculum.

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Adam, Rover, and Robot

8/9/2015

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Please take a second to vote- no registration needed. Voting continues until August 12th. Thx!

My experimental video featuring Adam the Doodles Man, his dog Rover, and one of my animated robots made in DoInk Animation app was chosen as a finalist in this contest: http://designideas.net/adam/AdamContestEntries/Default.aspx

Please take a second to vote- it's super easy and there is no registration.

The video was edited in the Funimate App with footage from layering stop-motion animation and drawn animation in the DoInk Green Screen app. Learn more about these robot animations here: http://drydenart.weebly.com/fugleblog/animated-robots

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Animated Robots

7/5/2015

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Made
with
DoInk
Animation
App.

Drawn
and animated on the iPad.

Robot animated using DoInk Animation App

I've been exploring animation on and off for years now and am frankly addicted to the DoInk Animation app. There are so many possibilities in that lovely app and the more I play the more I learn.
Here is my animated gage showing this process. I love summer since there is so much time to play.

The robot above was inspired by my little neighbor's robot t-shirt. We talked about the moving parts in the design and what should flash, light up, and spin. It was a challenge that I couldn't wait to try. He said the eyes should move and lights on the belly light up, the lever should go up and down, and electricity should come out of his head. I added some gears that turn, a moving gage, animated teeth, and growing/flashing lights.

close up of moving parts

Some of the movement was created within the drawing mode while others were added during the composition mode. Learning the tools enough to figure out some short cuts has been empowering. What looks hard, can be very manageable now that I'm tapping into more and more of what the app can do.

Frame 1: Robot

Frame 2: Robot

Frame 3: Robot

The robot is basically only a THREE frame drawing.

In frame 1 I drew all the parts of the Robot including the starting point of the elements that will move.

For frame 2 I duplicated the drawing and made adjustments for the objects that I wanted to move.
This meant that I redrew the teeth, selected the black circles of the eyes and repositioned them, made changes for the flashing lights, lever, the wiggly line on the belly, and the electricity lines.

In frame 3 I did the same thing as in frame 2.
Notice that I didn't do anything to animate the gears or the gage. I saved those for the composition mode.
When I finished this frame I duplicated each one with the copy and paste tools 4x's to slow the animation down.

Gears were made in drawing mode and animated in composition mode. Then added to the robot as a unit.

The gears and a the levers were made separately in DoInk. I began by making one gear out of a circle and a square. I copied, pasted and placed the squares in a pattern around the circle. Then I duplicated the design and changed the colors. In composition mode I brought in both gears, lined them up, and set them spinning with the rotation option.

The gage was made in a similar way. It is really just an arrow made from a rectangle and triangle combined in the drawing mode. That was all I needed ahead of time to make a moving gage. I brought the arrow into my composition on an animation layer over my robot in the timeline. I pulled it out to 6 seconds (so I could create a vine movie) as well as the robot design. Then, I used keyframes to help point the arrow to the location at different intervals on the timeline. I have a tutorial where I used keyframes to animate my bobbleheads. It's exactly the same idea. So, now think of the possibilities for animation, design thinking, and science integration! Take a look at my other ideas for robots here.

Here is my new kind of American #TERPart #k12artchallenge #k12artchat made w/@doinktweets #Robot https://t.co/vt6lc392Si
— Tricia Fuglestad (@fuglefun) July 4, 2015

Ideas in transit #TERPart #k12artchallenge via @doinktweets #STEAM https://t.co/wSvtxxZrQA... https://t.co/GGfLu3ieWk
— Tricia Fuglestad (@fuglefun) July 3, 2015

Totally addicted to #robot #animation #STEAM W/ #doink http://t.co/RnxyGZLMUP https://t.co/1mulkCY5qN
— Tricia Fuglestad (@fuglefun) July 12, 2015

This video was made by combining stop motion animation of wire figures and drawn animation created in DoInk animation app. I layered both together in the DoInk Green Screen app and put FXs on the footage using Funimate App.

Adam, Rover, and Robot from Tricia Fuglestad on Vimeo.

1thing leads 2another.A chain of events can help U form conclusions #reflect31 https://t.co/q0odSuYSHu #rubegoldberg #simplemachines
— Tricia Fuglestad (@fuglefun) August 7, 2015

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Paper Circuit ROBOTS 2.0

6/13/2015

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sketch w/ paper cuts

colored with markers

paper circuit on the back

I've been playing with ways to make a switch or button on my paper circuit artwork appear more integrated and purposeful. The robot I originally played with had a momentary button that I designed over the battery into the belly of the robot. See it here. The button also worked as the mechanism that closed the circuit. This time I bought a button online that was spliced into the circuit and not necessarily near the battery. This meant the connection to the battery was fixed and pushing the button (with a satisfying click noise) completed the circuit. I've been playing with ideas in preparation for the fall since I finally received the Donors Choose grant for supplies to try this with my students.

Pull tab to move eyes & push momentary button hidden behind paper fold to light LED on head

Shout out to Journal Fodder Junkies and their 15 minute for 30 days sketchbook challenge #JFJ15for30. Today's challenge was for paper cut outs of windows and doors. It forced me to think differently about how to add more interaction to the paper robot with the eyes and helped me invent a way to hide the button in the belly. Thank you!!