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2 days ago
Cesar Harada
Posted project update #2320120524 Ars Electronica, DEAF and Stanford Survey
Post CommentDear Backers,
I hope this update finds you healthy and happy. Summer is coming, and a lot is happening for Protei.--
Ars Electronica
Protei just won the ARS Electronica "Hybrid Art" Honorary Mention! This is a great honour and we will have the pleasure of taking part to Ars Electronica 2012 in Linz Austria (Aug 30th - Sept 3rd).
http://www.aec.at/thebigpicture/en/
http://prix2012.aec.at/prixwinner/6700/
http://www.aec.at/prix/en/gewinner/2012/--
DEAF Festival
Protei in currently being exhibited at the DEAF Festival (Dutch Electronic Art Festival) in Rotterdam. Protei_006 -that was made possible thanks to your support- is sitting next to the works of Philip Beesley and Olafur Elliasson, Jae Rhim Lee, Tuur Van Balen, Marnix de Nijs and more (!) until June 3rd. Sebastian (from Berlin) and Cesar (based in London) were happy to gather again with Protei Dutch members Alvaro Takiuti (Brasil) and Piem Wirtz (NL) : team smile !
Protei is also working with a group of students from T/u Eindhoven who are building their own Protei! They did a presentation of their work at DEAF discussion tables and showed us their version of sailing robots :
And the best news is that Protei will continue working with T/u Eindhoven for next year so you will see more Protei coming from the Netherlands - Exciting!
http://deaf.nl/program/modules/deaf-2012-exhibition--
Stanford GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Marketing)
Etienne Gernez and Shah Selbe of Open H2O are working with a brilliant group of students of Stanford GEM (Global Entrepreneurial Marketing) students : they have prepared a little survey for you :) We want to know what you expect from the future Open-H2O.org website - it is your website! What functions you want to see there, how it should look and feel etc? If you leave us your email, there will be one Protei Hoodie to win!>> Please take part in our 5 minutes survey here : http://protei.org/survey/
For those who identify as übergeeks, we might send you another specific survey about file formats as we are trying to establish our own flavour of Open Hardware documentation. Thanks to your input the new website is coming! We are looking for a Drupal developer ~ by the way :)
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What's next? Summer 2012.
This summer is going to be extremely active. We are thinking of you everyday in particular those to whom we have not yet sent the rewards.
- July 2nd -> Sept 13 : Cesar Harada and Gabriella Levine will be working in San Francisco Tech Shop and/or Noisebridge to transform Protei from the prototype stage to a high standard product stage.
- Sept 13 -> Dec : Once we have one perfectly working prototype, we'll look for small quantity manufacturing. Backers will be the first to receive the machines we build then.
Our local groups and members are also taking many initiatives and participating events:
- Berlin : Sebastian Muellauer has been working on setting up a workplace for Protei in Berlin, Germany. The workplace is called Superkubus :)
- Oslo : Etienne Gernerz is half way through building the "Sunshine Factory" which is going to be a place for prototyping and testing Protei in Oslo Norway, by the water - charming place.
- Rotterdam : Piem Wirtz in Rotterdam is active establishing partnerships with local academics and industries, with one potential focus on plastic collection with Protei.
- Brasil : Protei will also participate several events in Brasil with Kasia Molga (PL, UK) : one confirmed is http://cigac.org. The Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG) promotes from june 13 to 16, 2012, the First International Conference on Collaborative Environmental Management – CIGAC, located and looking towards the Semiarid Northeast Brazil within the theme: “Science and Social Innovation.”
- Turkey : We are still waiting for confirmation, but it is most likely that Protei will be presented at the ITHET conference in Istanbul : http://www.ithet.boun.edu.tr/
There is so much happening for Protei :) Thanks to your help. Wishing you a superb end of week!
Warm grateful regards,
Cesar HARADA, for Protei and Open-H2O -
on May 10
Cesar Harada
backed a project
The WATT? An Energy 101 Primer by Focus the Nation
A user's guide to energy in the 21st century. Everything you need to know about energy, a print and interactive e-book.
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42% funded $8,584 pledged
- 189 backers
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on April 29
Cesar Harada
backed a project
Complete Cross Platform Freemium Game System and Demo Games! by Social Systems Technology
A Cross Platform Freemium Game(s) and full training system with videos and a blog on the process for a do-it-yourself system
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0% funded $976 pledged
- 17 backers
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on April 9
Cesar Harada
commented on a project updateLoving this image!!! I remember flying in japan Taifu as a kid, I so loved it !!!! Until someone's house flew just next to me ... And I went crying to my grandpa's!!! ahahah.... But this image is super cool !!! I want to see it built! Go Maia go !!!
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on March 28
Cesar Harada
backed a project
#AirQualityEgg by #Sensemakers
A community-led air quality sensing network that gives people a way to participate in the conversation about air quality.
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370% funded $144,592 pledged
- 927 backers
- Funded Apr 26, 2012
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on March 22
Cesar Harada
Posted project update #2220120322 : Protei_008 and getting closer to a Protei 1m for backers
Post CommentDear Backers,
Long time without updates, my apologies. We've been working hard developing Protei legal infrastructure in the UK and in the USA, and most importantly getting closer to "Protei 1 Meter Remote Control" as "a product" for our dear backers :)I am glad to present to you today Protei_008b, last born and tested a few weeks ago in Long Beach California. Video on youtube + vimeo + Flickr + orginal file
We had a soft wind in Long Beach and Protei_008b "Bubble" was sailing elegantly. Thanks to London.hackspace and San Francisco Noisebridge where Protei_008 was made, Hunter Daniel for filming, Aurelie Vincent for helping the production.
We want to ship you a Protei that works super well, the documentation of a high performing shape-shifting sailing robot, but we still have quite a few things to fix :- The hull mechanical "springiness" needs to be enhanced. The hull has a tendency to "lock" in extreme bended position. The straight "neutral" position needs to be easier to calibrate dynamically and remotely (as we sail).
- The electronics are too vulnerable to water infiltration through the cables housing : a compartment is being developed as a separate mechanical module.
- We need to find more powerful motors and optimise wire routing.
- Manufacturing technique for the hull, control box, sail for serie production.
- Greener materials : we still use some PVC tubes, polyester resin, and some synthetic foams that are cheap and easy to use but not very green :(
- The hull internal frames that support the boards, sensors, batteries and mechanical parts need to make it easier to upgrade from classical "Protei Remotely Controlled" to an --> "Protei Arduino + IOIO Board / iPhone Interface + Android phone / iPhone", so you can control your protei with your Android / iPhone, collect environmental data with this kind of kit and broadcast them over 3G or the like - Yay!
- Camera mount, so it is easy to add a GoPro or the like on Protei without affecting it's stability and speed.
So we still have a lot to do, but we're making steady progress thanks to your support :) We dream to have a fully functional prototype for a Protei 1m RC this autumn - doing our best. We definitely keep you updated. Shipping to backers should happen a few months after, with a serie manufacturing techniques and greener materials. I apologise again for that we are taking a long time, it is a new technology and we have so much to figure out to deliver you quality.
Protei and education
We're working with several students teams, supervised by Etienne Gernez our Academic Coordinator based in Norway. We have a great team in the Netherlands from TU Eindhoven that recently published on instructables.com, more than 10'000 views! We also recently completed a market research project with Stanford Global Entrepreneurship Marketing with students Elika Mahdavi and Chun Kai Phang that are foreseeing a bright future for Protei in science and environmental education.
Instructables ShopBot 2nd place
Protei_007 by Gabriella Levine just won the second place of the Instructables Shop Bot challenge! Bravo!
Article in "BATEAU magasine"
We had a nice segment of a popular french sailing magazine "BATEAU" that gives a good overview of the current sailing robotic projects. pdf | p1 2 3 4.
Again we apologise for delay in sending rewards, we would not want to ship you a Protei that does not work, or the manual of a half-baked technology. We're moving forward thank to your support and we'll keep you updated of major progress made !
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on March 21
Cesar Harada
backed a project
MATTER by Matter
The world is full of big stories. We don't want them to go missing.
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280% funded $140,201 pledged
- 2,566 backers
- Funded Mar 24, 2012
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on March 21
Cesar Harada
backed a project
Wind Playground by Maia Anthea Marinelli
Wind Playground is a “Venturi effect” on a party dress. Visitors play with and understand wind by being blown away by the wind.
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101% funded $25,253 pledged
- 118 backers
- Funded Apr 21, 2012
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on March 17
Cesar Harada
commented on a projectDear Phil and Chuck, I'm really sorry for the very long wait. We're in the process of moving the Headquarters of Protei from London UK to the USA currently and we'll be fully set in the USA hopefuly in the late spring. Sending reward will be much easier from that point. We're also in the process of forming as a non-profit and we'll use that status to send you the reward but have not obtained yet our status. Again, I apologise for delay.
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on January 5
Cesar Harada
backed a project
Moving Windmills - Documentary Film by Ben Nabors & Tom Rielly
Moving Windmills is a feature-length documentary that tells the true story of William Kamkwamba, a young innovator from Malawi, Africa.
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278% funded $111,545 pledged
- 376 backers
- Funded Jan 08, 2012
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Cesar Harada
New Orleans, LA
Cesar Harada (27) is a designer and researcher. French and Japanese, he moved from Boston to the Gulf of Mexico to develop Protei, an Oil Spill cleaning robot. Cesar is TED Senior Fellow, also the coordinator of the Open_Sailing group which aim is t... view more
