On 21 June we were joined in the Studio for a fantastic Lunchtime Talk part of Big Green Week by Bristol based engineer Matthew Venn. Matthew came to talk to us about his awesome energy data robot project:

Since last year Matthew Venn’s ‘Polarbots’ have been drawing pictures on walls in response to energy use – the pictures change as the power goes up or down. But Matthew realised any live data could be visualised this way and now with help from Bristol Council, he and his collaborators have built a website that transforms data into art in real-time: www.CursiveData.co.uk. The ever-changing pictures that result can be drawn by Polarbots or embedded in websites.

What is Cursive Data?

The project started as a way of making energy usage data more accessible to people not interested in graphs or numbers. As real time data is received, one of a number of pattern generators is used to create a new frame that becomes part of a slowly growing visualisation. The visualisations can simply be embedded onto a website, or more interestingly brought to life by a drawing robot, otherwise known as Polarbots.

How Polarbots work

Polarbots draw by hanging a pen from wires that are controlled by motors. Their movement is determined by a Cursive Data ‘pattern generator’. As they move they can pull a pen across the wall, or lift it off the wall. You can watch a video of the robot in action here.

What next?

Matthew explained his plans for expanding the project:

•    Public installations – To raise awareness of the project and create media interest.
•    Polargraph kits for the home – The kits will be on sale in two versions – self assembly kits & premade
•    An online library of different visualisations -  Matthew wants to commission artists to create new designs, games and algorithms that will  get people more involved and interested in logging their energy use.
•    School workshops – Involving schools would raise awareness and help to engage children with the issue of energy consumption.

Real time data visualisation hack day

Matthew explained that they are looking for people to join them for a one day event on Sunday 7 July hosted at the Bristol Hackspace. The desired outcome is to create some pattern generators that turn incoming data into evolving pictures for either the web or to be drawn by wall hanging robots. The best ones will be exhibited in Bristol by a team of drawing robots. You don’t necessarily need to be a coder but some programming experience would be helpful. If you’d like to be involved send a brief introduction of yourself and why you’re interested in being involved to matt@cursivedata.co.uk

Places for the workshop are really limited but Matthew explained he is looking to work with others to collaborate on future ideas for the project so get in touch with him on the address above if you would like to be involved in the future.