Dustyn Roberts - Making Things Move DIY Mechanisms for Inventors, Hobbyists, and Artists

DIY Mechanisms for Inventors, Hobbyists, and Artists

Dustyn Roberts

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ISBN: 978-0-07-174168-2
MHID: 0-07-174168-2

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Dustyn Roberts is a traditionally trained engineer with nontraditional ideas about how engineering can be taught. She started her career at Honeybee Robotics as an engineer on the Sample Manipulation System project for NASAs Mars Science Laboratory mission, scheduled for launch in 2011. While at Honeybee, she also designed a robotic drill; led field operations of a robotic truck in an Australian mine; supported proposal efforts for DARPA, NIH, NASA, and DOD; and led a project with Goddard Space Flight Center to create a portable sample manipulation system for lunar operations. After consulting with two artists during their residency at Eyebeam Art + Technology Center in New York City, she founded Dustyn Robots ( www.dustynrobots.com ) and continues to engage in consulting work, ranging from gait analysis to designing guided parachute systems. In 2007, she developed a course for New York Universitys (NYUs) Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) called Mechanisms and Things That Move, which led to the book you are now holding in your hands.

Dustyn holds a BS in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, with minors in Robotics and Business, and an MS in Biomechanics and Movement Science from the University of Delaware, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at NYU-Poly. She has attracted media attention by Time Out New York, PSFK, IEEE Spectrum, and other local organizations. She currently lives in New York City with her partner, Lorena, and cat, Simba.

First, Id like to thank all my family and friends for putting up with far too many I cantI have to write excuses. To my dad, for being an engineer and encouraging my whims, even when they didnt make good business sense. To my mom, for her confidence in my abilities, even when she had no idea what I was talking about.

Thank you to NYUs Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), specifically Red Burns and Tom Igoe, for hiring an engineer to teach artists. Tom quickly became more than just the area head for my class. He offered support and encouragement from day one and has become a mentor. When I started teaching, I was an engineer, but now Im a maker, too. Thank you for challenging me to make my field accessible and to empower others through making. I have no doubt learned more than I have taught. And thank you ITP for attracting students who are a pleasure to teach. Every student Ive had the opportunity to interact with has shaped this book.

Thanks to Eyebeam Art + Technology Center for supporting this work through their artist in residency program and for attracting great interns. This book would have taken much longer and been less fun to work on without my team of interns, who worked for little more than free lunch and the promise of certain fame and fortune. To Sean Comeaux for all the illustrations and for making me find new ways to explain things. To Sam Galison and Stina Marie Hasse Jorgensen for their enthusiasm and their amazing work on the projects, photography, and video editing for the website. or the Not Lazy Susan any time soon. Thanks to the other residents, fellows, and staff for making it an inspiring place to work.

To everyone who helped edit remotely or made it to my Book & Bribe parties (and Tom for seeding the idea), where I stealthily convinced friends and colleagues to read through early drafts by serving food and drinks: Matt Bninski, Lee Carlson, Joanna Cohen, Stephen Delaporte, Russ de la Torre, Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Rob Faludi, Eric Forman, Michelle Kempner, Jenn King, Adam Lassy, Ben Leduc-Mills, Adi Marom, Gale Paulsen, Jennifer Pazdon, Lauren Schmidt, Greg Shakar, Ted Southern, Becky Stern, Mike Sudano, Corrie Van Sice, Dana Vinson, Irene Yachbes, and any others I may have forgotten.