[PD] Marionette Control

[Ian Smith-Heisters]

I'm probably only suggesting this because it's what I'm working on right 
now, so I'm sure there's got to be other ways of doing this.  You can 
get cheap motors of all kinds from American Science and Surplus 
(http://www.sciplus.com). Then you could do something with a PIC and an 
RF receiver/transmitter. PD could send OSC commands wirelessly to the 
robot/marionnette,  where the PIC would trigger current to the correct 
motor. It may not even need to be wireless, depending on what you mean 
by marionette. If you want it to have cables running to the ceiling, 
then you may as well skip wireless. If PIC is too thorny, you could also 
try a BASIC Stamp.

Have you ever read Über das Marionettentheater by Heinrich von Kleist?

-Ian

Samuel B Burt wrote:

> Hi group!
>  
> I am sure some of you have experimented with using PD to control 
> motors.  My friend Joel Grip is planning to build a giant marionette 
> puppet in his wood working class at the Maryland Institute of 
> Contemporary Art that we will use in our multi-media improvisations.  
> The goal would be to perform live with acoustic instruments and/or 
> computer generated/manipulated sound and have the marionette move in 
> reaction to our playing.  What I would like to know is where to find 
> information on what types of motors to buy and how to interact them 
> with PD.
>  
> I checked out makingthings.com because I had heard about their 
> Max-motor interaction products.  They sent me the following response 
> to my inquiry:
>  
>         Hi Samuel.  While we have intermittently run into interest
>         in having Teleo interact with PD, this interest has not,
>         unfortunately, been enough to warrant the time and effort
>         it would take us to develop it.  So, as of now the answer is
>         sadly no.  This is not set in stone, however, and it is possible
>         that at some point in the future, we'll move ahead with 
> development
>         for PD, either based on a general growing interest or in 
> response to a
>         particular job that we're doing.  But for the moment, it's not 
> very
>         high on our list of priorities.
>
> Also, I am told that their products are really designed to move 
> smaller objects.  Our life-size wooden marionette would probably be 
> too heavy and wear the parts out too quickly.  If anyone has any 
> suggestions, they would be very appreciated.
>  
> Samuel Burt
>  
>  
>