Scenes from the 2013 Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race

Giant bicycle powered pink poodles and elephants… where's the Chesapeake Bay Retriever?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFNcq3x9cjc

A view from the water section of the race - difficult to see the sculptures, but gives a good sense of the huge crowd that shows up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9iB2lQlpy8

KSR Project Timeline

The advice from a veteran kineticaut is to budget plenty of time for building and testing. So we have developed an 18 month timeline that allows us to volunteer for different sections of the race in 2014 and then race our Trashmonster Upcycle in 2015. Here are the dates:

Spring 2014

(early Feb) Design contest campus wide; recruit student team (can announce at Involvement Fest).

·       Design contest prize: $250

·       (March) Meet with consultant Mike G in INDS to learn about project timeline, materials needed, tips etc.

·      (April) Visit Arbutus Middle School to observe Mike's KSR project.

·       (April) Visit the American Visionary Arts Museum to meet with Rebecca Hoffberger and discuss the role of the arts in urban revitalization. Attend April meetings for Race volunteers.

·       (May 3rd) participate in KSR as helpers at each stage to learn logistics etc.

·       Entry fees (will volunteer 2014)

·      Visit CCBC Fab Lab with Stephen Bradley

Summer 2014

·      INDS moves into new space with room for KSR team "fishbowl"

·     Gather materials for Trashmonster Upcycle

Fall 2014

(September) Mike G. leads 2^nd workshop for UMBC KSR team on project management of build process

(October) Revisit design and check detailed specs and measurements

(Nov – Dec begin building frame and “sculpture”)

Spring 2015

Feb-Mar: Assembly and fabrication (

April test ride and float!

May Race! 

Trashmonster Upcycle

Yes, that is the name of the Kinetic Sculpture that we wish to design and build for the Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race (the theme for the 2014 race is "Smells Like Green Spirit" - a clever reference to Nirvana AND sustainability).
Our goal is to put the notion of upcycling ("converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value") into motion by collecting discarded materials (also known as trash) that could be used as part of a bicycle powered sculpture.
Materials that could be used for aesthetic, structural or flotation purposes include:

• water cooler bottles
• buckets
• PVC pipe
• discarded lumber or shipping pallets

As suggested by Jason Hardebeck, we could also incorporate renewable materials such as bamboo, especially for frame materials.

makerspace

I attended project night at the Baltimore Foundery last night and spoke with co-founder and entrepreneur Jason Hardebeck about UMBC's KSR project.

First of all, they offer Welding 101 classes - a valuable skill for creating a kinetic sculpture frame. Second of all, they host project nights on Thursdays from 6-9pm, and would welcome a KSR group who want to build components. Check out this list of tools!
The third thing - and this is a really cool idea - is to use bamboo and epoxy for the kinetic sculpture frame. Bamboo is light, renewable, and incredibly strong. There is at least one company that is building bamboo bicycle frames: Calfee Design.

Breaking Ground on design

Thanks to a Breaking Ground grant from UMBC in January 2014, Interdisciplinary Studies now has funding to recruit a team of UMBC students to design, build and race a kinetic sculpture in the annual race in downtown Baltimore. What is a kinetic sculpture?

"Kinetic Sculptures are amphibious, human powered works of art custom built for the race. Each May, the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) hosts the East Coast Kinetic Sculpture Race Championship on the shore of Baltimore’s Harbor in central Maryland.  The eight-hour race covers 14 miles—mostly on pavement, but also including a trip into the Chesapeake Bay and through mud and sand." Retrieved from the Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture web site.

The Baltimore KSR web site has a wealth of resources, including a How to Build section by Elliot Naess.