SAN MATEO, California — To stand out among a beautifully, constructed, near-authentic steam carriage and a fire-breathing installation that spews out a flame every few seconds isn’t easy.
But if one installation can grab attention it is the ‘Hand of Man’, an outsized hydraulic arm that can be operated from a little gloved controller nearby.
“It’s modeled on the human hand and foreman and has all its range of motions,” says New Mexico-based artist Christian Ristow took about six months to build the installation.”It is all hydraulic and powered by diesel engines.”
The initial funding for the project came from the Burning Man festival last year and since then he has honed the machine and added more functions.
The 25-feet tall installation has been created such that anyone from the audience can walk up to a little platform and stick their hand into a glove. The motions inside the gloved controller are reflected in the giant hand.
“There’s a feeling of power that goes with controlling a robot of this scale,” says Ristow. And that arm has the power to inflict some serious damage including the ability to pick up a small car and toss it back to the ground.
Operating the installation itself is pretty simple and intuitive says Ristow. And to prove him right, next in line to try out the Hand of Man was a five-year old boy.
For more on how Ristow’s Hand of Man was created, check out his blog.
Here’s also a video of the Hand of Man from the Burning Man festival.
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by publisher on May 31, 2009
