Awesome Interactive

Designer and maker Love Hultén is best known for his retro-inspired video game and computer builds. But this one is quite different – an electromechanical drum machine that plays rhythms using a MIDI sequencer. Each of its components is modular, so it can be reconfigured to create unique audio sculptures.

Artist Samer Dabra programmed Evil Mad Scientist’s AxiDraw v3 plotter to take photographic images and reinterpret them as twisty, turny, abstract line art. By overlaying CMYK inks, the images have an appearance of being in full color. More images on Instagram.

Artist and designer Daniel DeBruin created this interactive thrill ride, which gives its rider some control over their destiny by using biometric feedback to adjust the speed at which it flings them around. The 7-meter-tall ride uses sensors to measure heart rate, muscle tension, body temperature, as well as orientation and gravity.

Artist Parker Heyl created this ingeniously simple but visually stunning installation work. Inspired by Jacob’s Ladder toys, it mechanically flips dozens of them with wood on one side and mirrors on the other to reflect colorful, ever-changing imagery. More here.

Breakfast created this incredible work of kinetic art that uses spools of thread to display images. It has 6400 individual spools, each of which can rotate between 36 different colors to display a single pixel. The trick is that the spools actually are loaded with a long multi-color belt, rather than individual threads.

Created by Raven Kwok for Shanghai’s TODTOWN, time++ is a computer generative artwork which displays the passage of time in a unique way. Particles appear on its screens representing the current second, and then migrate into position to display the hours and minutes as giant digits. Can we please have this as a screensaver?

Brooklyn art studio BREAKFAST’s interactive artwork uses arctic temperature data to visualize climate change in real time, displaying above average temperatures in gold, and below average in blue. It also changes appearance when you approach to represent the impact climate change has on all of us.

FutureDeluxe shows off a cool project that was on display during the Google China Developer Days – an interactive display which allows people to create unique ceramic vessels simply by moving their bodies. Each virtual work of art changes shape as the person in front of the camera changes poses. More here.

Created by the Ruiz Brothers with code by Phillip Burgess, this interactive electronic plaything uses motion sensors and a Raspberry Pi computer to determine the flow of digital grains of sand on a 64×64 matrix of LED pixels. You can grab the schematics, parts list, code, and build guide over on Adafruit.

Artist Felix Vorreiter’s unusual timepiece uses a single, long piece of string that feed through a series of pulleys. The rope is marked with dots which align to display the current time. The current clock only has 120 minutes of string, as it would take about 4000ft to cover a full day.

Australian artist David Morrell bends metal wire to form roller coaster style tracks, on which marbles spend their days rolling round and round in a perpetual loop. His kinetic sculptures are available in a wide variety of sizes and shapes, and he accepts commission work.

Interactive system maker Realtime Department shows off a modern version of the classic foosball game where you never have to worry about losing the ball again. It features a 4K display and spinner style rod controls, and its virtual stadium and player uniforms can be customized.

A trio of classical musicians teamed up with interactive artists Ouchhh on this innovative performance art work for Ars Electronica, using sensors to measure data from its cellist’s Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta and Gamma brainwave activity to generate real-time visuals influenced by emotion, focus, auditory, and other neural response.

We’ve seen various works by artist Daniel Rozin over the years, but this interview with WIRED is the first time we’ve heard from the artist himself, and not just what inspires him to make his mechanical “mirrors,” but the painstaking effort and technology that drives his works.

Artist and musician Koka Nikoladze builds electromechanical objects which act like analog drum machines, producing unusual beats using bits and pieces of household objects and hardware to produce their rhythms. Be sure to check out Beat Machines No. 2 and No. 3.

Delta Hack takes a look at droolworthy gadget for laser geeks. The 4″, 3.1 lb cube has bright red, green, and blue lasers, and a computer-controlled mirror which can be used to display animations. Its beam can also be focused to engrave images or ignite things. Available now from Wicked Lasers. Read our full review on Technabob.

Looking to kill a few minutes of your day? This highly addictive interactive online plaything lets you take control of a roomful of loosely-jointed, stretchy-limbed dancing robots. You can play with Gerard Ferrandez’ underlying code here. Let’s Rock!

Bob Products makes these large-scale professional displays which use electromagnets to play with the strange and unusual properties of ferrofluid. The systems can be programmed to manipulate the magnets and fluid while displaying lighting and sound effects.

After wowing us with his amazing folding structures a few years back, designer Erik Åberg decided to put them into production. The Ghostkubes comes with reconfigurable plastic cubes which can move and collapse to create mindbending interactive 3D sculptures.

British design duo Glithero’s unique desk lamp has a playful method for switching it on. It’s activated only when you knock over a series of copper dominoes which complete the circuit when toppled. Of course, you have to set them all up again each time you turn off the lamp.

The guys from electronics site Adafruit Industries show off a fun project you can make for yourself – a trampoline with a cool LED light ring. The lights aren’t just colorful, they can be triggered based on when you jump up and down. Full build guide and parts list here.

Create your own birddragon, liger, or other insane combo animal with this silly interactive timewaster, which not only lets you make crazy hybrids, but preserve them as an animated gif or video file for posterity.

A look at Universal Everything’s latest interactive visual experiment, in which you control a character standing in the midst of thousands, each of whom reacts to your movements while you remain an individual. We’re dying to try a real-time version of this.