Crowbot Jenny – Photography by Hitomi Yoda
スプ子の新作「カラスボット☆ジェニー」初公開だお！

Crowbot – Demonstration
スプ子のゆるーいカラスボット☆デモンストレーション！

マシンがひと通りできたので今はカラスの呼べる新曲（野外で演奏すると客だけじゃなくてカラスまで盛り上がる、真の自然とのフュージョンミュージック）とPV制作中〜　完成楽しみーーー！！　やっほーー！！！

Hello everyone! I thought I’d upload some images and videos from the RCA Interim Show where I’m currently showing my new project Crowbot Jenny. More information about the Crowbot Jenny project can be found here! The show is on until February 10th and it’s admission free – so please take a visit before it’s over! Sputniko! will be at the show from 3pm on both Saturday and Sunday.

LIVE! LIVE! LIVE! LIVE!
I’ll be streaming the show live from ustream starting at 15.00 GMT on February 6th (today!) so tune in if you’d like to see what it’s like at the show.
The broadcast will be here > http://ustre.am/cc1N

Royal College of Art Design Interactions Show space
(Several images courtesy from we-make-money-not-art’s photostream!)

Sputniko! as Crowbot Jenny

The Crowbot

The Crowbot Jenny dress – fashion design by Aephie Huimi

The Crowbot Jenny dress – close up

Crowbot Jenny – Illustration by Nasos (N.C. Empire)
Fashion design by Aephie Huimi

Hi there! MINNA GENKIIIIII!?

Guys!! Guys!! Sputniko! will be doing a week long exhibition at the Royal College of Art Interim Show, starting February 3rd! It will be a work in progress show of my new project ‘Crowbot Jenny’ (Remember my blog article about crow research last time? )

The show is at
Royal College of Art
Kensington Gore
SW7 2EU
London

and will be on from February 3rd to February 10th.
If you visit the show you’ll find Sputniko! walking around as Crowbot Jenny on Saturday and Sunday from 3pm to 6pm.

This is VERY last minute but the PRIVATE VIEW of the show is on February 2nd, starting at 6pm! Sputniko! will also be there performing Crowbot Jenny, and there will be some nice drinks!

If you would like to attend the private view, please email or tweet me and I can get you some invitations on the door!

So… who is Crowbot Jenny?

Crowbot Jenny is a socially-awkward girl who prefers to spend time surrounded by technology and animals rather than with humans. One day Jenny creates the Crowbot – a robot which can vocalize a variety of crow calls to control and converse with her newly formed bird army – but just what exactly will she do with her new powers?

If you see the blog article here, I’ve been doing research and development on machines for talking with crows.

Crowbot Jenny is a project exploring the wonders of the world of animal intelligence and interactions. Sputniko! will be showing the Crowbot and the crowbot Jenny dress at the show – I hope you can come and see Sputniko!’s juicy new stuff at the RCA.

AND…A NEW CROWBOT JENNY SONG IS COMING SOON TOO!

I hope to see you all tomorrow evening! (or in the weekends at the show!)

xx
*Spu*

Hello everyone, how’s your new year?
This is Sputniko!’s first blog entry in 2010…sooooo futuristic and exciting!!

こんにちはー　スプ子です。　２０１０年初ブログだね！
２０１０年ってなんか未来っぽいな〜　スプ子Yearって感じだな〜

This week I visited crow intelligence specialists Nathan Emery and Nicky Clayton in Cambridge University – Nicky and Nathan showed me their beautiful crows, rooks, jack doors and eurasian jays in their aviary, it was fantastic!
今週はケンブリッジ大学動物学部のカラス・スペシャリスト、ネーサン・エメリー教授とニッキー・クレイトン教授を訪ねにいってきましたヨ！

We had lunch discussing very interesting topics on bird vocalizations, trans-gender fish, Darwinian dance and tool making crows… Nathan and Nicky also gave me great advice on the development of ‘Crowbot’, a crow-language-speaking robot I’m working on at the moment. Its initial test video is below!

ランチを食べながら「チェーンソーの鳴きまねをする鳥」「性別を変化させる魚」「ダーウィン進化論をテーマにしたコンテポラリーダンス」「道具を作るカレドニアのカラス」などなどマニアックな動物話を喋りまくってくれる二人。話が面白すぎて、数回失神しそうになった。

実は今ちょうど、動物とコミュニケーション出来るようなロボットを作ってるんだよね。それでいまは、割と複雑な言語を持っているカラス種との交信を試みています。

下がカラス種と交信する「カラスボット」のテスト風景。
カラスに「こんにちはー」って話しかけて、返事もらってる．．．はず？（笑

Thanks to Cesar Harada for crowbot build help and Matt Kamen for help with video recording!

The aviary visit was full of endless discovery – below are some of the many intriguing facts about crows
二人に大学の鳥園にも連れて行ってもらって、めいっぱい鳥を見てきました。　
以下、鳥に関する驚きのトリビアだー！！！！

-It’s only in the last 12 years that scientists began to discover that crows are very intelligent – tests show that they’re as intelligent or more intelligent than chimpanzees. Compared to the chimpanzees, crows are more capable of social communication and reading other animals’ minds.

■カラスはチンパンジーと同等、もしくはそれ以上の頭脳を持つ。カラスはチンパンジーと比べ仲間の意思を読み取る能力や社交能力が高い。

-It was probably a chance event that the earth became ‘the planet of the apes’, not ‘the planet of the birds’. Some scientists call crows “feathered apes” and chimpanzees “hairy crows”!

■地球が「鳥の惑星」でなく「猿の惑星」になったのは、ダーウィン進化の小さな偶然である。つまり地球上で最も高等な頭脳を持つ動物種は猿から進化した人間でなく鳥から進化した他の動物になっていたかもしれない。

-Crows make tools : some crows in Caledonia make a whole tool kit for pulling insects out from dead logs.

■カラスは道具を作る。特にカレドニアに生息するカラスなどは、虫を切り株から取り出すための道具セットを大きい葉などから作る。

-Crow couples stay together for their whole lives. Studies found that crow couples make a special language only in between themselves – cute!

■カラスのつがいは生涯を共にする。彼らはカップル同士にしか分からない「合い言葉」を作ったりもする。うっわ〜　超キュート〜

-Eurasian jays (a specie of crow) is very good at copying words and sounds – would love to make them sing the lyrics of my new song.

■Eurasian Jay（カケス／カラスの一種）は人の言葉や自然の音を真似するのが非常にうまい。スプ子の新曲歌詞もぜひ歌ってほしいぜ！

-Crows can swap and ‘trade’ food between themselves

■カラスは小さいスケールであれど、食べ物を交換するなど「貿易」するらしい。

Ah, the list is endless.
などなどなど．．．挙げ出したらキリないわ。

Many thanks to Nicky and Nathan who guided me through their wonderful world of birds. I’ll be going back to Cambridge for more visits – hopefully next time with the completed Crowbot version 2.0!

とりあえず、かなり高いレベルで楽しい一日でした。
カラスボットの制作が一段落した時に、鳥園に戻って色々テストする予定です。親切にしてくれるクレイトン教授とエメリー教授に心から感謝なのです。

そして皆さん。
遅くなっちゃったけど　新年あけましておめでとう！
今年もよろしくねーー　絶好調でいこーねーー！！！

らぶです！！
☆スプ☆

See you all!
xx
Love
*Spu!*　

DIY Cyborg Workshop in India

The DIY Cyborg Workshop in India was an amazing success!
Thank you so much to Khoj Association for their massive support.

Here’s a short edited video of the workshop:

I asked the people who came to the workshop how they might modify&extend the body as cyborgs, based on their own particular problems, anxieties, needs or issues. The workshop aimed to think about how future technology may evolve with the rich Indian culture – and I also wanted to use the methodology to tap into the lives of the people in Delhi.

After the brainstorm in the morning we picked our favorite ideas and went to the local junk yard to collect materials for building the objects. I was interested in using vernacular materials that are easily and cheaply obtainable – it’s DIY Cyborgs!

Here are some of the ideas that came out from the workshop.

Burqa-borg

Anju Sharma created this burqaborg out of her own wish to create a burqa which worked similarly to the privacy settings in Facebook – she wanted a burqa in which she can flexibly choose which people to show her face to. People need to send a ‘friend request’ to be able to view her face behind the mask. Sharma feels that the burqa is not an oppression but a form of empowerment, just like the way we choose who to share information online.

Gaze Avoiding Cyborg

The girls wanted to create a body extension that made them feel more comfortable to walk at night. In Delhi men stare at women ‘a lot’. The men stare at the women so much that I understand why some of them feel like wearing the burqa..) The group prototyped objects that changed the body posture/outline, and objects that distracted the male gaze away from you by making big noise, etc.

The Fake Orgasm Goggle

This group looked at objects that allowed them to over-express their emotions. This particular prototype is the orgasm-faking goggles which display fireworks on the screen.

India was fantastic… I probably had some of the most amazing days in my life.
One of the best moments must be when we gate-crashed an Indian wedding and joined in their full-on Bollywood dancing.

Rish-Kish, a holy town on the upper stream of the Ganghis River, was beautiful!

I’ve met some wonderful people in Delhi…I hope to go back to India again soon!
I love you!!! xxx!

x
Sputniko!

Gee, I’m completely hooked on this video!

India was fantastic, The Cyborg Workshop was fantastic – a report will be coming along soon, hopefully tonight!

love,
Sputniko!

Workshop Flyer – click on the link to download!

Oh yes that’s right – I’m going to India. TONIGHT!
Sputniko! will be doing a lecture, demonstration and workshop on D.I.Y cyborgs at the Khoj Association in Delhi on Sunday 6th December. We’ll have a particular focus on thinking about how technology may evolve with the rich Indian pop culture.

The photograph in the flyer (by Akshay Mahajan) is one of the popular Fortune Telling Robots you can find in India. You can listen to your future fortunes via the headphones connected on their arms… what!

Anyhow, I’m immensely looking forward to the stay in India.
Hello Delhi!

————————————————————————–

そう。スプ子、インドに行ってきます．．．これから。

「サイボーグぐらい自分で作っちゃおう！」DIYサイボーグについてトーク、デモ、ワークショップを１２月６日（日）にデリーのKhoj Associationというアート施設でやってきます。今回は特にボリウッドなどインドでの熱いポップ文化がどうテクノロジーと絡まり進化していくか現地の人と検証して行こうと思っています。

フライヤーの写真（by Akshay Mahajan)はインドで有名＆ポピュラーな占いロボット。インドには占いをしてくれるロボットたちが多数道脇に存在していて、腕にくっついたヘッドフォンをかぶると自分の運命を教えてくれるらしい．．．マヂかよ！　

インド人、ボリウッド、サリ、カレー、サイボーグ、結構かなり楽しみ。
はりきって行ってきます！

☆スプ☆

I’m playing and DJing tomorrow 24 Nov 2009 at the Cross King’s supporting De De Mouse.

Londoners. Come.

I’m on at 8.45pm, don’t miss.

Sputniko! is supporting De De Mouse at Cross King’s on
Tuesday November 24, 2009 … and I’m DJing too!

Take a look at De De Mouse’s PV above!
I’ve been a big De De Mouse fan for a while – his music’s really beautiful.
Other awesome bands playing are: Rica Minami and Ken Kobayashi

You can buy tickets here
It’s £5 door and £4 advance
Don’t forget to write ‘Sputniko!’ when you get to the door!

Looking forward to seeing you guys there <3
xxx

Spu

GIVE ME SWEETS!!!!!!!!!!!

Article: ‘Proper Wakki Pop 09.10.2009′

Whoa! Thank you Camilla Pia for writing this article about Sputniko!

“Weirdos making music in leftfield genres – so predictable. Now what if those same eccentrics had a bash at subverting mainstream stuff? And they did it successfully? Well it would be amazing, and it might sound something like Sputniko!”

…oh yes.