Last week’s interview with Jeff Linnell took us behind Hollywood’s cameras and the robots that control them; next week’s interview takes us in front of th~e cameras with Frank Ippolito.

Frank is the creator of Thingergy and has made FX costumes and props for blockbusters, TV shows, and games.

The most popular post last week was a somewhat terrifying lathe for turning logs into veneer.

MachinePix @MachinePix

Veneer peeling lathe machine making wood veneer from a log.

December 29th 2020

133 Retweets937 Likes

I’m always looking for interesting people to interview, have anyone in mind?

—Kane

The Week in Review

This begs the question, how did goalies repeatably and consistently train before machines? 🤔

MachinePix @MachinePix

Soccer trainer by @BallLauncherUK.

January 2nd 2021

97 Retweets624 Likes

Heavy lift vessels are awesome and come in a lot of shapes. Here’s one for carrying yachts. Here’s one for carrying other large ships. Here’s a big honkin’ crane on another one. The strange shape of the VB 10,000 is a result of its salvage application: you don’t quite know the shape of the thing you’ll have to pick up.

MachinePix @MachinePix

Versabar VB 10,000 Heavy Lift Catamaran for salvaging.

January 2nd 2021

70 Retweets410 Likes

Agriculture is one of the industries where constrained operating environments have enabled bits of autonomy to be applied. Mining is another.

MachinePix @MachinePix

Precision spraying with a John Deere self-propelled applicator.

December 30th 2020

31 Retweets281 Likes

The detail in the eyes amazing me. For some nightmare fuel, check out the Millennium FX animatronic baby, which is useful for long or potentially dangerous scenes.

MachinePix @MachinePix

Building an animatronic apatosaurus for Jurassic World, by @LegacyEffects.

December 28th 2020

149 Retweets706 Likes

Postscript

I’m looking for an American supplier of stamped metal parts, do you know any?

If you enjoyed this newsletter, forward it to friends (or interesting enemies). I am always looking to connect with interesting people and learn about interesting machines—reach out!

—Kane