Pythagoras Machines

Long a fan of the NHK show Pythagoras Switch, I was intrigued when my brother-in-law suggested we attend the MIT Museum FAT (Friday After Thanksgiving) Chain Reaction event, in which teams of people build elaborate contraptions which each, in a chain, set off the next team's contraption by the agreed interface of pulling a string.

The above is shows the set up of the chain of teams. I was not positioned well to capture video of the actual chain going off, but video of a previous (perhaps 2014 or so) event is linked here. The event is organized by Dr. Arthur Ganson.

We attended, had fun, and afterwards toured the MIT Museum, where Dr. Ganson has a number of his designs on display.

This one assembles and breaks apart a "chair."

This one has a baby moving with seemingly random motion.

This one had a mechanized fly circling a light bulb.

This was a very tall machine which didn't seem to do anything except move in an intriguing way.

This one had a baby's gaze following a moving object.

All very neat. I'm glad to have attended and learned about Dr. Ganson's work. Now I want to try to build my own.