The TapeScape Audio Robot

It seems to me that if you're of at least drinking age, you've got an old tape deck and a box full of old cassettes collecting dust somewhere in your house These audio artifacts of yesteryear have been eclipsed many times over, but for some reason so many of us can't seem to part with these old treasures. We decided to give them new life by creating TapeScape and the BoomBot. Now this obsolete media can be re-used and given new life instead of ending up in the garbage.

The idea was to make a robot almost entirely out of tape player parts, and mounting a tape head that continually drags itself over a flat field covered in audio tape (the TapeScape). So you're not playing a tape, you're playing on a tape. The resulting audio output is a glitchy sound experience with enormous opportunity for creative expression.

Check out how it was done.

Materials:
-Old boombox
-2 Servos
-XBee
-Discarded Chalk Board
-Rubber Bands
-Anchor Bolts
-Audio Preamplifier
-Twine
-FM Transmitter
-Rubber Washers
-Audio Cassettes. Lots of em!

Step 1

Make the TapeScape....Just pick some old tapes that you never quite cared for (your Mom's old Aerobics workout tapes, Raffi, have some fun with it).

Find a nice big flat surface (I used a chalkboard that I rescued from the dumpster outside Laguardia High School in Manhattan) - get some 3M Super 77 and start adhering!

Comments

[oliver1986]

tape from cassettes is black (ish) add white tape attach this to a line following robot i know it's not really in the spirit of making one from just a tape deck, but think of the fun that could be had.

[Sparkington]

it would be really simply to remote control, all you need to do is pull apart a rc car and use the board to control both tape motor. Check out my ible tank platform that how I make a skid steer tank.

[geeklord]

Or, You can screw the chinsy walmart rc car and get the nice high quality rc parts. That way you can hook up each part in a nice plastic box to the other plastic boxes.

[PlayPatterns]

Yeah but there's only one motor driving both sides. Direction is all taken care of mechanically rather than electrically, hence the servos.

[mayugmm]

awesome

[lialiutza]

Of course,he is not only sooo cute,he is sooo intelligent!

[farthernick]

It needs flames and horrible gas efficiency in order to truly capture the 80's as a decade, but otherwise impressive. I have to say, at first I thought you were pulling my leg.

[buggityboo]

great job, wish the sounds were louder though!

[paulobolivar]

this is pretty cool!

[colombofam]

I think this is awesome....Your Mum