This is a guest post from our summer intern Lucy! 

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Over the first four weeks of my summer at the Tinkering Studio, I’ve encountered a wondrous collection of new tools, materials and concepts. From the inner workings of bandsaws to the inner workings of terrifying mechanical toys, I’ve been introduced to the underlying skills and philosophies of tinkering in the only way I could imagine: being totally thrown into it. Luckily, I’ve been assured by multiple members of the team that the tinkerer’s best approach is a beginner’s mindset. Since that is (in general) my only mindset, I was happy last week to dive into TurtleStitch, the newest exploration in the TS’s foray into computational tinkering. 

TurtleStitch is a program that classically pairs coding with turtles and—you guessed it—embroidery. Through its Scratch-inspired interface, anyone with access to a computer and a computerized embroidery machine can create a design to be realized in just minutes. Quite like TurtleArt, which we’ve been tinkering with over the last few weeks as well, this program blurs the line between the digital and physical world rather seamlessly (heh). But as we’ve discovered with TurtleArt, the digital/tangible switcharoo presents a unique set of challenges as well as opportunities. 

The first challenge was simply setting up the embroidery machine. After managing to thread our machine (a Brother SE-400) with spooled embroidery thread, making a makeshift ironing board with my laptop case and shoving a denim fabric in the embroidery ring, I triumphantly set the machine to a preloaded design. And promptly broke the needle. Two more broken needles later and I found success with a thin simple fabric. Rallied by this, I finally connected the machine to my laptop with relative ease.

TurtleStitch is still in the beginning phases of development, but they recently released a new update with integrates more embroidery-specific functions—stitch size and the like. These additions are exciting and important when figuring out how to code your design. I discovered with my first couple of attempts, for example, that a simple running stitch is too thin to show up well on the fabric. The first small, simple flower that I coded looks miniscule compared to the triple stitched designs over it. Also, the remnants of the old system before the newest additions make the interface feel unnecessarily complicated. This is exacerbated by the fact that the translation between the code and the machine can be tricky. While the program allows you to code for color, the only important factor ends up being, of course, the color of the thread you chose. Not only that, but no matter the size of the design you code, the machine will only create a pattern a couple inches wide.

 

 

 

So, the process in itself is exciting and undeniably tinkerable, but also very complicated as an activity on the floor. We’d love to be able to provide kids will all the materials for their vision—colorful fabric of all different kinds, multiple colors of thread, a large pattern—but, as a facilitator, all of those things are complicated to set up efficiently and successfully. At the same time, we have the same challenges that I’ve seen through my whole time at the TS of having to walk the fine line between kickstarting the kids’ imagination and giving them an example which they follow without real engagement. Ultimately, it’s a problem of imagination, either too much or too little. It’s all about finding that perfect balance. Fortunately, we have some time to tinker with it.

Over the next several months we'll be embarking on a project we're calling STEAM Starters - it's all about tinkering with young learners and supporting early childhood teachers to facilitate tinkering experiences with these little ones. We're lucky to be working with two partner schools in this first phase of this project where we can protoype and iterate on STEAM-rich activities together. Whenever we're beginning new relationships such as these, I think it's important for everyone to come together and discuss our goals, intentions, and values. At our kickoff planning sessions at each school we started by taking the time to discuss what our hopes were for: the kids we work with, ourselves as educators, the family networks of the children, and the school environment.

One of my favorite themes that arose from these conversations is the idea of the educator as a perpetual learner. One teacher said she wanted to develop her "science mind" as part of collaborating on this project. We'll use daily reflections as one way to support this goal of growing our own skills over the course of the project. 

Another theme that came up at both schools was the idea of using documentation to show rich evidence of student learning through play and tinkering. We've only had a few sessions at the schools, and already we're seeing wonderful examples of deep engagement and inquiry with a slightly modified set of Marble Machines materials. We'll share more examples of these learning stories as they emerge. 

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This project is supported through a generous grant from the Early Learning and Care Division at the California Department of Education. 

Over the last six months, we explored a variety of tinkering activities for a LEGO pull-string motor through a collaboration with partners from LEGO Idea Studio (Amos Blanton, Liam Nilsen), Care for Education (Brent Hutcheson and Duncan Beaton), and Quarterre (Nick Mannion). The motor has a variety of possible building points: a hole for a LEGO Technic axle, a disk with LEGO studs, and more studs throughout the body of the motor. The pull string activates the spinning axle and disk, no power required. We honed in on two activities: critters and their environments and automata.

In this activity, we asked participants to create sculptural kinetic contraptions made from LEGO and everyday craft materials. They use linkages and a pull-string motor as the foundation for movement, and animate a story, scene, or character with the addition of materials like paper, feathers, or googly eyes. If you're interested in trying something similar, LEGO offers a wind-up motor that offers similiar functionality. 

 

Getting Started

Materials

 

 

For building a LEGO automata, we like to use a combination of LEGO Techic pieces and craft materials. The Technic pieces form the "skeleton" of the automata's structure and movement. We've found the craft pieces to be important to support the narrative component of creating a LEGO Automata sculpture. Learners are able to personalize their creation by drawing or collaging additional elements. Some learners even use these materials to provide additional mechanical pieces as well! Paper is an especially effective material because it is lightweight and can sit between beam-and-pin constructions and move flexibly.  

Building the Pull-String Motor Base & Linkage Support

To get started, use double stick tape  to attach your base plate to a thin sheet of plywood for additional support. This will allow you to move or lift your sculpture without it bending or breaking.

Next, build a base for your pull-string motor to raise its height. We like using an alternating pattern of two-2x6 bricks, then three-2x4 bricks, then repeating two-2x6 bricks. This pattern provides stability when pulling the string. You may also choose to super glue these bricks to the motor, and super glue the whole assembly to the base (with the pull-string going off the edge). The resistance of the spring inside the motor is powerful and can pull your creation apart if you’re not careful. If you don’t want to glue the pieces together, be sure to remember to hold the motor in place with your hand every time you pull the string.

For the crank, use an axle 6 through the motor with a LEGO Beam 2x4 Bent 90 degrees (2 and 4 holes) on one side and a bushing on the other to hold it in place. The L-shaped beam should spin smoothly when you activate the motor, but not wiggle back and forth too much.  

For making your linkage, it’s helpful to have an additional vertical support. We like to use three-2x4 LEGO technic plates with holes stacked on top of each other attached to a LEGO Cross Block Beam Bent 90 degrees with 4 pins. Attach a 16-hole beam to the remaining two pins. You may choose to glue this assembly together as well, but don’t glue it to the base plate. You’ll want to be able to move it later as you build your linkage.

Tinker with Making a Linkage

Linkages can take many shapes and forms. For building your LEGO Automata, start by attaching two 16-hole beams at one end with a gray connector pin. Use the gray pins to attach a one beam to your L-shaped crank and the other to your vertical support. As you put these pieces together, have a look from above to make sure things are lined up in even planes and not pulling backwards or forwards.

Activate the motor (don’t forget to hold it when you pull the string!) and notice what happens. How are the beams moving? Can they move freely, or is there a point where they get stuck? This is the point in the process where you can really start tinkering! Notice what changes when you reconfigure the pieces. Some things you can try are:

• Changing where your beam is attached to the L-shaped crank
• Changing where the two beams meet (end-to-end, T-intersection, or crossed)
• Changing where the second beam attaches to the vertical support
• Changing the distance of the vertical support from the motor (making it closer or farther away)
• Experimenting with the length of the beams

 

 

Most importantly, remember that linkages are tricky! They take time and iteration to troubleshoot, and often will move in ways you don’t expect. Over time, you’ll get the hang of figuring out how to make them move the way you want them to.

LEGO is an especially useful material for tinkering with linkages because it allows for iteration in the design process. As you build you can track what different positions and configurations you’ve tried, and it’s easy to go back and undo those changes if you’d like to revisit an earlier idea. While that’s still a possibility with materials like cardboard and wire, undoing a change can be much more challenging.

Here are a few starting points: you can make linkages that move up and down, swing back and forth, or open and close like a pair of scissors. When facilitating this activity for a group of learners, we like to have many possible starting point linkages already built, and encourage learners to start experimenting by making changes to the existing structures.

As you gain comfort with how your linkage moves, you can add complexity by building on secondary movements or adding angled or extension pieces to exaggerate the motion.

DESIGN YOUR ANIMATED SCULPTURE

As you’re building, you may ask yourself, “What does this motion remind me of?” Could it be a person waving an arm? A boat on the sea? The snapping jaws of an alligator? The possibilities are endless! Alternately, you can consider what story you want to tell and how you can use the linkages in your LEGO Automata to add motion to that story. When working with construction paper, you can create individual elements to add onto your linkage or create more complex jointed pieces. Double sided tape is helpful for attaching pieces to beams or onto the base plate. Brads and small hole punches can also add jointed motion. You may also choose to add feathers, googly eyes, or other craft materials to give your creation personality.

 

 Take it Further

Automata and linkages can be made out of many different materials and in many different sizes. You can explore using cardboard, foam, trash, wire, and wood for making the core of your automata design. You can also play around with scale to see how big or small you can make them. You can even try alternating between 2D and 3D designs for what you create.

This project was made possible through the generous support from the LEGO Foundation

Last week we kicked off our first Bay Area Maker Educator meetup of the year with a focus on Cranky Contraptions and iteration! We've always been fans of automata and mechanical motions, and have done several variations on this theme over the past 10+ years. Amy and I put together a timeline showing some of the major milestones of how the activity has developed over time. Many people ask us where our activity ideas come from, and reflecting on this history gave us the opportunity to show that many of the new approaches we've tried have been inspired by artist visits, new materials, and even things we saw on Twitter!

After a brief introduction to materials, the group dove right into designing their cranky contraptions. Some folks started from exploring the mechanism and deciding what to create later, while others had a specific vision in mind and iterated to acheive that goal. For example, Christy was inspired by the idea of a waving heart, and you can see her tweet about it below.

Made my first cranky contraption last night at @TinkeringStudio! Been wanting to make one for a while. Looking forward to future iterations/ideas I now have! #makered #makers @STEAMcentric #crankycontraptions @exploratorium pic.twitter.com/9HVOhX5BAl

— Christy P. Novack (@christypnovack) January 11, 2019

We ended the session with a conversation on what we value about iteration as a process for learning and building, and set goals for ourselves on what we'd like to iterate on in our own practice as educators over the next year. What do you value about iteration? Or do you have a making & tinkering-related goal for the new year? Take the conversation over to Twitter and message @tinkeringstudio to share ideas and insights!