MachinePix Weekly #27
A logistics robot was this week's most popular post 📦🤖
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Dust off your tools! Next week’s interview will feature Laura Kampf, maker-extraordinaire and the personality behind one of my favorite YouTube channels. Laura shows how you can get incredible results from scrap, and I watch her videos whenever I need inspiration to make progress on a side project.
The most popular post last week was a cool bit of warehouse logistics automation:
I’m always looking for interesting people to interview, have anyone in mind?
—Kane
The Week in Review
I realized this title was a little confusing. The Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) is the name of the collection of 23 radio telescopes, which has been succeeded by the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA)—hence the decommissioning.
For the Fire Emblem fans: yes, Sylvain Gautier is actually his name. For everyone else, his other sculptural work is equally endearing.
Some commenters noted that the machine was pulled along manually by a rope, and wondered why it was not automated as well. I’m willing to believe this actually an optimal solution: the device operates in a messy environment, and the fewer parts that can break, the better. Complexity =/= utility.
I wish I had a higher resolution video for this. Mammoet is a fascinating company that specializes in machines to move really large things.
Postscript
I discovered that Bandai has a line of scale models of mundane everyday things and I cannot get enough.
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