Survival Research Laboratories (SRL) is not actually a laboratory that researches how to survive, but is rather a hard-to-categorize performance art project that resembles a circus. The circus in question, however, does not entertain with elephants, tigers, or trapeze artists; here, the performers are all robots. Huge, smelly, grease-covered robots.
Since its inception in 1978, SRL’s founder Mark Pauline has worked with many collaborators, including established artists like Matt Heckert, Leslie Gladsjo, Kal Spelletich, Ken Goldberg, and a long list of welders, mechanics, tinkerers, and scientists. Under Pauline’s direction they stage large-scale sensational “machine art performances,” of which there have been over 55 to date.
Back in the early 1980s, when Pauline originally came to San Francisco, he discovered one could rent a whole warehouse for just $150. Seeing an opportunity, he settled into a space in the Mission district. SRL immediately began designing and producing machines that look like repurposed vehicles from Mad Max or liberated Mars Rovers. As the machines accumulated, the shows began.
Every Tuesday is Art Tuesday here at Adafruit! Today we celebrate artists and makers from around the world who are designing innovative and creative works using technology, science, electronics and more. You can start your own career as an artist today with Adafruit’s conductive paints, art-related electronics kits, LEDs, wearables, 3D printers and more! Make your most imaginative designs come to life with our helpful tutorials from the Adafruit Learning System. And don’t forget to check in every Art Tuesday for more artistic inspiration here on the Adafruit Blog!
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
Every Tuesday is Art Tuesday here at Adafruit! Today we celebrate artists and makers from around the world who are designing innovative and creative works using technology, science, electronics and more. You can start your own career as an artist today with Adafruit’s conductive paints, art-related electronics kits, LEDs, wearables, 3D printers and more! Make your most imaginative designs come to life with our helpful tutorials from the Adafruit Learning System. And don’t forget to check in every Art Tuesday for more artistic inspiration here on the Adafruit Blog!