He amazing video plotter It is made with cardboard, welding rod, rubber bands, adhesive tape and glue. The digital memory that controls it is a small book with a lot of different drawing codes that are written as coordinates and that move mechanically and manually. The result of such a bold plotter is to write the words Hello World on paper, a typical phrase used by programmers in their first computer program.
The inventor behind this project is Niklas Roy, a professor at the Offenbach School of Art and Design in Germany and an inventor of useless things, although I still wonder why seeing the plotter results and especially the time invested in writing a sheet. On its website you can see a lot of images and videos of projects in which simple materials are used although the assembly work is really high and precise.
All the ideas that can be seen on the Niklas Roy page are done in collaboration with his students. You can see many images on his Picasa page, including an Angry Birds stage with slingshot included.
I have also seen Niklas on his website with the Surprise Control project (surprise control) a collaborative work in which he gave a workshop to some students using as a support a chip called Surprise controller (surprise controller). He chip is preprogrammed and modifies its behavior depending on the peripherals that are connected to it. The boy in the video puts some lights and a switch and the device makes combinations of lights and sounds with which the kid is delighted (speaks in German). Also in the video you can see other participants who use other controls obtaining surprising results.
Niklas' work is really amazing and yes, it can be said that he makes absolutely useless things though the creative process and the realization of work is impeccable, showing that one of the most important tasks is to apply a method and do it in the best possible way.
