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Michaelangelo Venti Spray Paint Art Robot Development Halted?

I make no secret that I got a lot of inspiration for the Makelangelo from Jürg Lehni’s Hektor. I wrote to him in July to let him know how much I admire his work and ask questions about how he made his machine so I could improve the kit. After a bit of back and forth Jürg said

I have given this a lot of thought since our last exchange, and have come to the conclusion that I cannot see a collaboration in this. I am therefore asking you to stop making a copy of Hektor, and licensing it under GPL. If you are a fan of my work like you say, then you should respect that decision.

Now I’m confused. According to the GPL,

Software under the GPL may be run for all purposes, including commercial purposes and even as a tool for creating proprietary software, for example when using GPL-licensed compilers.[41] Users or companies who distribute GPL-licensed works (e.g. software), may charge a fee for copies or give them free of charge.

Makelangelo has been released under the GPL since the beginning. So is Jürg saying everyone except me is allowed to make copies and sell them? Some of my more successful friends have told me that, legally, I don’t have to do anything, that I should ignore Jürg and just keep going. I want to be a good person and do the right thing. I want to make for a living making robots people love. I want to sleep well at night.

The nice thing about having many robots is that I can let one go and continue in another direction. I’d be a little sad if I can’t help people make more public art. The world needs more beauty.

I hope this also sparks interesting conversations about artist’s rights, open source, and commercializing maker work.

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New Product: Raspberry Pi Model B + 8GB SD w/ Noobs

ELE-0034 Raspberry Pi Model B is a full computer the size of a credit card. Add a keyboard and mouse to use it on the spot or simply connect a network cable to run it over the web. We have successfully run Apache web servers on the office Pi and at our local hackspace a Pi runs the MAME arcade machine with 3000 video games.

RPis do not have a hard drive. Instead they use SD cards. This model includes an 8GB SD card preloaded with Noobs firmware. Plug in your Raspberry, follow the on screen prompts, and you will have one of several flavors of linux running in just a few minutes.

The Pi has two USB connectors – enough for a keyboard and mouse. The Pi also has two kinds of video output and is powered by a micro USB cable.

You may also want a DVI to HDMI cable, a micro USB cable, or a USB powered hub.

See it in store.

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Software Update: Makelangelo 1

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Laser Cut Frabjous Tetrahedron Sculpture

This is one of my first Laser cutting experiments. Even though this isn’t the best example of what I can cut I feel it’s worth sharing because it helped me get a lot better. I needed a large piece to test the cutting quality across the entire work area of the machine. I also love jigsaws and puzzles, so when I saw this on Thingiverse I knew I had to make one for myself. In several spots the beam didn’t cut all the way through and there was a bit of burning. That showed me where to adjust the settings and fine-tune the calibration.

After cutting the parts I used masking tape to hold it together while I riddled it out. Once it looked right I put a few drops of contact cement on each corner to finish the job.

Now here’s a question about appearances: If it were you, would you show this version or would you re-cut it and only show the perfect second copy? Some people say I look less confident or less skilled because I show work in progress. I think it’s more honest and educational to show how I got where I am. I might have problem but they don’t include confidence issues. What do you think? Please comment.