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February 03 2012

makerbot

Japanese hirajiro castle by arnsteio

Japanese hirajiro castle by arnsteio

Japanese hirajiro castle by arnsteio

How’s this for a first-time contribution to Thingiverse?  Arnsteio’s first design shared on Thingiverse is this incredibly intricate and detailed Japanese hirajiro castle.

This is a small Japanese “hirajiro” plains castle from the sengoku period. Bases were simply made of earth so for the castle to survive the vagaries of weather and earth quakes, superstructures had to be light. Hence we see simple walls, small houses and open-work towers. It is meant for use when wargaming, and will be suitable for campaigns in Japan in the 1400s and 1500s – I will use it for the Kawanakajima campaigns.

Awesome work arnsteio!  Please keep the models coming!

Japanese hirajiro castle by arnsteio
This is a small Japanese "hirajiro" plains castle from the sengoku period. Castle bases were simply made of earth so for the castle to survive the vagaries of weather and earth quakes, superstructures had to be light. Hence we see simple walls, small houses and open-work towers. The model is meant for use when wargaming, and will be suitable for campaigns in Japan in the 1400s and 1500s - I will use it for the Kawanakajima campaigns. I have made it for use with 10mm wargaming armies, though it would work equally well for larger or smaller scales. The ashigaru figure I placed in the courtyard for scale is 10mm foot to eye. He is a ripoff of Erik's excellent bride and groom from thingiverse.com/thing:3495 (and he's based on the bride, no less!).
This thing brought to you by Thingiverse.com
Tags: Thingalert arnsteio castle hirajiro japanese japanese hirajiro castle thingalert

July 28 2011

makerbot

Ancient Inspiration for Modern Robots

Click here to view the embedded video.

Karakuri is the ancient Japanese practice of creating incredibly intricate automata using weights, pulleys, and wires.  The video above features some of these robots rowing boats, shooting arrows, turning somersaults, and practicing calligraphy.  Think back to the amusement park rides of the 1960′s – with the exception of a recorded song, those little robots were also completely operated by weights, pulleys, and wires too.

The amazing thing about 3D printing is it enables everyone to create works every bit as intricate and complicated as these little robots.  Now anyone can focus on purpose and design rather than technique.  If a handcrafted robot can select an arrow, draw it back on a bowstring, and fire accurately at a target – there’s no reason you couldn’t do the same thing using 3D printed plastic parts too.  The real question isn’t whether we could reproduce these kinds of actions using 3D printed parts, but rather what could we create with printed parts that would have been difficult or even impossible using these ancient means?

Via Make

Tags: Video art automata automaton japanese karakuri make makezine robot robots
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