4 ms·

Electric Giraffe (2016)

40 points by uticus 2y ago

block_dagger 2y ago
(2016)
Aardwolf 2y ago
Silence after 2016 despite photos of new wiring, I wonder what happened to it...
- mattlondon 2y ago
  I often see this sort of thing and wonder a lot about the individuals involved. Things change, shit happens, people move on etc. Often fascinating, sometimes sad to hear about deaths or bereavements etc, but even in those cases it feels somehow "right" to enjoy their work after they've gone.
  - acomjean 2y ago
    “nocturnal creature of the Playa” in the text would seem to indicate it’s a burning man project (never been but I know a couple people that go). Things in the world are a lot more fleeting than I expected, so I enjoy them in the moment. This giraffe is a fun, amazing passion project.
    - bckr 2y ago
      > Things in the world are a lot more fleeting than I expected But you can’t kill an idea. The reproduction of the thing is more thingy than the thing, since “things in the world” are expected to be less fleeting. Electric Giraffe dies, long live Electric Giraffe
- swid 2y ago
  I saw the giraffe less than a year ago at Maker Faire, so they have kept it working.
- dang 2y ago
  It goes back to 2006 (https://web.archive.org/web/20240000000000*/https://electricgiraffe.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20240000000000*/https://electric...) but I guess we'll put 2016 in the title. Thanks!
c54 2y ago
I was lucky to meet this giraffe and its creator in 2016. It’s quite impressive and clearly a labor of love. Has strong home garage hacker vibes. The creator was excited to show us around and answered any technical questions we had. One aspect which stood out was that the head and other parts had touch sensitive “pet” detector cells each of which consisted a short, inch wide plastic flap connected at its base to some internal circuitry and held out from the base at a slight angle to resemble a sort of robotic fur equivalent. When you brushed your hand on them, the giraffe reacted and either nuzzled its head a bit, made some sounds, etc Anyway I only briefly browsed the site so I’m not sure if he goes into more detail there. It’s cool to see this blast from the past and I wonder what the creator is up to nowadays.
neilv 2y ago
The YouTube videos are "unavailable".
andygcook 2y ago
The videos on the site didn’t work on mobile for me. Found this YouTube video with some footage of the electric giraffe and an explanation from the maker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfG2Ur5TGHQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfG2Ur5TGHQ
throwup238 2y ago
I wonder if the Electric Giraffe requires a Department of Mutant Vehicles permit to be on the Playa. It’s not technically an art car but that might not matter
- kayfox 2y ago
  Last time I saw it, it had DMV stickers on it, so I think yes.
  - kayfox 2y ago
    Followup, in this photo you can see a plate on the back of the Giraffe that has white and blue stickers on it, those are day and night BRC DMV permits: https://electricgiraffe.com/gallery3/index.php/2005/burning-man-decom/mg_9865 https://electricgiraffe.com/gallery3/index.php/2005/burning-...

40 points by uticus 2y ago

block_dagger 2y ago

(2016)

Aardwolf 2y ago

Silence after 2016 despite photos of new wiring, I wonder what happened to it...

mattlondon 2y ago
I often see this sort of thing and wonder a lot about the individuals involved. Things change, shit happens, people move on etc. Often fascinating, sometimes sad to hear about deaths or bereavements etc, but even in those cases it feels somehow "right" to enjoy their work after they've gone.
- acomjean 2y ago
  “nocturnal creature of the Playa” in the text would seem to indicate it’s a burning man project (never been but I know a couple people that go). Things in the world are a lot more fleeting than I expected, so I enjoy them in the moment. This giraffe is a fun, amazing passion project.
  - bckr 2y ago
    > Things in the world are a lot more fleeting than I expected But you can’t kill an idea. The reproduction of the thing is more thingy than the thing, since “things in the world” are expected to be less fleeting. Electric Giraffe dies, long live Electric Giraffe
swid 2y ago
I saw the giraffe less than a year ago at Maker Faire, so they have kept it working.
dang 2y ago
It goes back to 2006 (https://web.archive.org/web/20240000000000*/https://electricgiraffe.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20240000000000*/https://electric...) but I guess we'll put 2016 in the title. Thanks!

c54 2y ago

I was lucky to meet this giraffe and its creator in 2016. It’s quite impressive and clearly a labor of love. Has strong home garage hacker vibes. The creator was excited to show us around and answered any technical questions we had. One aspect which stood out was that the head and other parts had touch sensitive “pet” detector cells each of which consisted a short, inch wide plastic flap connected at its base to some internal circuitry and held out from the base at a slight angle to resemble a sort of robotic fur equivalent. When you brushed your hand on them, the giraffe reacted and either nuzzled its head a bit, made some sounds, etc Anyway I only briefly browsed the site so I’m not sure if he goes into more detail there. It’s cool to see this blast from the past and I wonder what the creator is up to nowadays.

neilv 2y ago

The YouTube videos are "unavailable".

andygcook 2y ago

The videos on the site didn’t work on mobile for me. Found this YouTube video with some footage of the electric giraffe and an explanation from the maker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfG2Ur5TGHQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfG2Ur5TGHQ

throwup238 2y ago

I wonder if the Electric Giraffe requires a Department of Mutant Vehicles permit to be on the Playa. It’s not technically an art car but that might not matter

kayfox 2y ago
Last time I saw it, it had DMV stickers on it, so I think yes.
- kayfox 2y ago
  Followup, in this photo you can see a plate on the back of the Giraffe that has white and blue stickers on it, those are day and night BRC DMV permits: https://electricgiraffe.com/gallery3/index.php/2005/burning-man-decom/mg_9865 https://electricgiraffe.com/gallery3/index.php/2005/burning-...