LoTeCLB

Low-Tech Lab (AKA Low-Tech Club)

2051-05-21T00:57:00.000-07:00

Mission:
Digital natives seem to use technology to "explain way" complex gadgets.
Simple yet fully functional, low-tech artefacts can be more surprising and re-focus the attention on the principles behind gadgets, therefore help learning at deeper level.
The added values are that low-tech is cheaper and can be replicated, altered and deployed easier than high-tech solutions. Alteration opens the possibility of user co- and re-design.

Inspiration:
http://www.nextbillion.net/news/low-tech-lab-life-saving-solutions
http://hlt.media.mit.edu/wiki/
http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/
http://www.notechmagazine.com/

Example:
http://www.kellyangood.co.uk/pinhole.html

Origami camera!

2011-12-05T04:18:00.001-08:00

[source]

Curved creases

2011-11-30T11:36:00.000-08:00

Folding paper along curved lines, can create 3D objects made of paper.

Examples:
- "Fascinating and elegant shapes may be folded from a single planar sheet of material without stretching, tearing or cutting, if one incorporates curved folds into the design." [source]

- "Simple Curved Fold" [source]

- A pattern to print and fold a curved container [source]

- Nice, artistic folded paper [source]

Napier's Bones (or Rods)

2011-08-12T12:24:00.000-07:00

- Build your own paper calculator! [instructions]

-
This is a black and white image of a set of Napier's bones abacus cards arranged vertically against a black background. The 10 numbers labeled on each card, from left to right, are "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0". [source]

- NAPIER'S Bones, held in palm of hand. Consisting of ten rods plus two extras, representing squares and cubes [source]

- Mechanical version of Napier's Bones
[source]

Alexander Calder - Hanging interaction

2011-06-19T11:10:00.000-07:00

Colourful, exploratory, mobile, low-tech, installations-sculptures disclosing a narrative in time and space.

Apollo and Daphne-interactive sculpture

2011-06-15T11:56:00.000-07:00

Apollo and Daphne, by Baroque Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
An interactive low-tech installation.

The composition invites the viewer to move around the sculpture, to be told the story of the transformation of Daphne into a bay laurel tree, through a spacial-temporal narrative sequence.

http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/edafne.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3RSRrUL1Os&feature=related

The LEGO Technic Idea Book: Simple Machines

2011-06-07T10:19:00.000-07:00

''The LEGO Technic Idea Book: Simple Machines. This the first in a three-book series on using the LEGO Technic building sets to learn about and create mechanisms and machines.''
[book]

3D printers and paper automata

2011-05-29T10:34:00.001-07:00

See here.

Tangible interfaces, paper and more.

2011-05-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

Index of Tangible Interfaces and Graspable Interfaces [from: here]

Paper++ "... research has shown that the persistence of paper is not merely a result of outdated work practices, rather, paper has 'affordances' which support collaboration and interaction in ways that the most advanced digital technologies cannot rival. In Paper++ we aim to exploit these properties whilst enriching paper with capabilities that can make it an effective resource for interacting with electronic media." [from: here]

Things that Hover: Interaction with Tiny Battery-less Robots on Desktop [from: article]

Wendy E. Mackay has many papers in this area:
- Exploring sustainable design with reusable paper [here]
- Musink: composing music through augmented drawing [here]

Thinkering studio

2011-05-22T05:26:00.000-07:00

Marble Machines - activity

Motions and Mechanisms

Origami, math and computation

2011-05-22T05:14:00.000-07:00

History of Curved Origami Sculpture

[from: here]

Curved folding

[from: here]

"It’s a very simple pattern, using a series of straight and curved folds. Very neat."

[from: here]

Curved folds are use in packaging:
[source]

And something about the math angle here: Mathematics of paper folding

Artistic origami: here.

Other, non-origami, ways to build 3D objects with paper:
- ichinogami (here)
- paper automata (here)

A modular, marble machine with reusable parts.

2011-05-22T02:59:00.000-07:00

[source]

[source]

A marble machine made of paper! [video]
Imagine using this idea to build a mechanical paper computing device, inspired by Babbage's analytical engine .

More marble machines here, here.

Portable DIY camera obscura

2011-05-22T02:50:00.000-07:00

[source]

[source]
By: THOMAS SHERATON (1751 - 1806)

The expressive power of low-tech, timeless technologies

2011-05-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

Contemporary sculptures made through paper and scissors:
http://www.petercallesen.com/

Old-times wearable computing

2011-05-21T01:06:00.000-07:00

[from: here]