The Marvelous Mechanical Makey Making Machine

This is a three-dimensional stroboscopic Zoetrope that I built for Maker Faire Orlando. Inspired by the simple historic animation toy and building on other works, this set up allows a large audience experience and an expansion of the storytelling by spiraling the animation. While not an original concept, It is a design that I developed to create a featured work of kinetic art to combine learning with entertainment around an iconic character for the Maker Movement, Makey the Robot. It demonstrates the basic principles of animation, the scientific concept of Persistence of Vision, and a philosophical point of questioning our minds’ tendency to interpret patterns that can lead us to the wrong conclusions (in this case motion). The motion that the observer perceives as “real” is purely an illusion created in our minds. It is this same illusion that is used in film, television, and all video content we consume on our media devices. Through understanding that it is a trick we allow to be played on us nearly every day in this modern world, we can be cautious about other areas of perception that may be flawed.