Eric Brockmeyer – Final Project – CNC M&M’s

by eric.brockmeyer @ 11:40 am 9 May 2011

INTRODUCTION
CNC M&M’s explores the possibilities of integrating computational design, digital fabrication, and food. Inspired by the field of Molecular Gastronomy, this project is meant to be a first step towards precise control of cooking tools bridging the gap between the science and the art of cooking.

This machine uses a standard household vacuum connected to a tabletop CNC router to ‘pick and place’ M&M’s in a desired pattern. The software can convert images into ‘pixel’ based representations and exports G-Code (machine instructions) automatically.

To ‘feed’ M&M’s repeatedly to the machine, an automated hopper was designed and built. The hopper uses a stepper motor and photoresistor which senses when an M&M is picked up and automatically serves up the next piece.

INSPIRATION
Cornell Universal Gripper
These Cornell researchers have created a novel solution using (ironically) a food product as a mechanism for gripping odd shaped objects. The bladder is filled with coffee grounds which can lock together or move smoothly past their neighbors depending on the pressure in the bladder. This thoughtful and resourceful solution may not have inspired the vacuum pick and place but it is similar in it’s purpose of picking and placing misshapen objects.

Herve This
Herve This is the so-called ‘father’ of Molecular Gastronomy. This describes the differences between the Science, Technology, Art and Craft of cooking. I was inspired by the intersection of these areas particularly between technology and craft. CNC M&M’s is a first attempt at understanding these differences.

CNC MERINGUE – A FIRST ATTEMPT
I began the CNC Food experiments trying to control meringue peaks by whipping them and pulling them up in a controlled manner. Unfortunately this experiment was mostly unsuccessful. The Meringue set too quickly and the various tools created to deform the foam were unsuccessful in whipping and pulling the foam.

Mixing meringue.


Attempt at pushing and pulling meringue peaks.

CNC Meringue from eric brockmeyer on Vimeo.

CNC M&M’s
After the meringue failed I switched to a pick and place M&M project. This was an effort to utilize the Openframeworks G-Code Generator and to create a finished product.


First attempt.


Hopper.


Overall setup.


Picker.

CNC M&M’s Update from eric brockmeyer on Vimeo.

CONCLUSION
This was a good first step in exploring CNC technology/food/and creative interfaces. Future work will focus on new and different interfaces to control the CNC equipment. A focus on different cooking tools and techniques that may effect food on a molecular level. And finally I would like to push the CNC M&M work further by building three dimensional shapes using M&M’s as bricks and icing as mortar.
his purpose.
I’m pleased with the outcome as far as the project has gone so far. I would have liked to have built a full machine specific to the food or process I was experimenting with rather than adapting a CNC router meant for circuit boards.

Mark Shuster – C.QNCR

by mshuster @ 6:41 pm 3 May 2011

C.QNCR is a YouTube sequencer that allows participants to creatively edit videos into unique songs, speeches and montages.

Designed as a tool to fuel pop media mashups, C.QNCR takes popular concepts like YouTube Doubler and TurnTubeList, a YouTube DJ suite, and applies the model of A/V sequencing to add linear, programmed playback.

Hardware solutions such as the MPC60 and other multi-track sequencers have changed the way that modern music is created by allowing for the pre-programmed playback of individual clips and loops. More recent innovations in digital audio have brought many software tools such as Logic, Ableton Live, ProTools, Reason, and others that offer an even greater level of control of clip sequencing. The C.QNCR attempts to bring this paradigm to a purely web-based space where users have a near infinite repository of popular content to cut and sequence. C.QNCR is a tool that gives easy access to the emergent mashup culture with a level of fine-grained control beyond other applications currently accessible.

The architecture uses on HTML/5 and jQueryUI and the YouTube SearchAPI, JavaScript API, and and the new embedded HTML5 player. Using these technologies, users can remotely query and queue videos, drag and drop from search results, to the video monitor, and then to the timeline. The jQuery UI toolset allows for the efficient implementation of controls and sliders to set clip length and track volume and to easily handle drag and drop events.

The first version of C.QNCR only supports one linear track of 60 seconds in length, and works best when splicing from only a single source. However, future versions will support multitrack sequencing and playback from as many sources as can be placed into the timeline.

Please find the demo of C.QNCR at markshuster.com/iacd/cqncr. The source if readily available in pitifully uncommented form within the page markup.

Check out the video below for a concise walk-through of the core features of C.QNCR performed by myself while suffering from an allergic reaction and on two hours of sleep.

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