Hints came to me about the specific deployment day of a certain
hack-in-progress that I already a little about, so I wandered
down to MIT to have a look.
[Click any small picture for its larger version. A linear list of the larger images is here for ease of bulk-downloading]. |
As I came around the corner of EC, it certainly looked like a bit of curious activity was going on in the McDermott courtyard. |
There in full glory was a super-sized Flying Toaster, straight out of the popular screensaver from the nineties. With toast popped up, flapping wings and a turnable light/dark adjustment knob. |
I circled around the courtyard periphery, and found a door conveniently wedged open to allow a shot from the roof of 18. |
The trailer was donated by a public-relations group that had finished
using it as a traveling exhibit, and wanted to see someone pull a hack
of some sort with it. They had no idea what would actually happen, but
because the project had been accomplished they showed up with their whole
camera crew to capture the moment. They didn't have an immediate purpose
for the resulting documentation but were confident in finding a good use
for it soon after.
Unfortunately there wasn't much other press presence, but then again the general Boston/Cambridge community almost seems inured to MIT hacks by now. In fact, the tie-dyed shirt worn by the guy at the table here is from the famous Fleming cannon hack that appeared in this same courtyard back in 2006. |
The wing flapping was driven by a clever dual-crank mechanism and a variable-speed gearmotor. Cables raised the wings; gravity lowered them. |
A ladder was specially padded up to lean gently against the Airstream's aluminum skin and provide roof access to unsnarl the works. |
The drive mechanism from above. |
And of course there were official event T-shirts. |
Flow of onlookers wasn't quite up to what the crew expected but plenty of people certainly came by to see it. |
The MIT Campus Police were around, and didn't seem to really care that the Toaster was there even if, technically, it was illegally parked. |
Some attempts to be vaguely artsy around nearby pieces of the campus. |