New subject: Saturday! inviting Onyx Ashanti to show and tell at sudoroom

12 Sep 2014

hey sudoroom,
i met this guy today at noisebridge (i know, i said i don't go there
anymore) and he is doing some amazing stuff!!!  We all have so much to
learn from him, and be inspired by him.
here is a recent post from his website, watch the video:
http://onyx-ashanti.com/2014/07/11/the-nomadic-diary-of-onyx-ashanti-episod…
basically he has been making amazing WEARABLE technology for purposes of
music and other forms of electronic expression, in the most organic way i
have ever seen technology used.
He is using electronics, embedded systems (wireless arduinos with
accelerometers, force sensors, buttons, lights etc) and hardware (servo
motors and haptic feedback vibes) in concert with extremely ergonomic
(again organic) structures made with 3d printing, to make human interface
devices for making music (in puredata).  He uses a bunch of different
filament types (even conductive filament) and a heavily customized very
portable 3d printer.
my only disappointment is that none of his circuits or 3d models are on
github, although he says that the stuff he is working on now will be
released freely as soon as he is satisfied with it.  I hope that is soon.
in the meantime, here's his github, which has a couple of puredata
repositories (puredata is the FOSS version of MaxMSP)
https://github.com/onyxashanti
even without code or files from his designs, i was very inspired by his
work and his energy and his attitude.  as for the circuits and the
robotics code, it's nothing I couldn't make from scratch quickly.  but the
ideas that he had for this stuff are ideas that i never had, even though
they seem "obvious" after the fact.  But so few of us are lucky enough to
look at technology from a purely interactive perspective like he seems to.
he said he would gladly come to sudoroom "any time" and I have his contact
to let him know.
Is there any reason I shouldn't tell him to come to sudoroom on saturday
at around 5 or 6 pm?  is anyone interested in seeing the stuff he does
with music, puredata patches, 3d printing, wearable embedded wireless
electronics, robotics (the expressive tentacle thing) etc?
-jake