CREATIVE MACHINES

Over the last few weeks, All Systems Go has been taken apart, powder-coated in an array of bright colors, and put back together again with all its finishing touches. After the machine was reassembled we began the testing phase where the machine runs for 1,000 hours prior to leaving our shop. This process allows our team to notice any kinks that may arise and gives us an opportunity to fix any technical issues that may occur before we deliver the sculpture to our client. This

All Systems Go is a brand new interactive ball machine going into Cayton Children’s Museum by Sharewell (formerly known as Zimmer Children’s Museum). This ball machine is loaded with an array of interactive devices and functions. It’s equipped with hand cranks, foot pedals, a bouncy seat, and special gears to twist and turn that will change the course of the circulating golf balls depending on how the user decides to interact with the machine. The machine is designed to illus

Last week, our Science North exhibits were packed up, shipped, and installed into the well-known Science Center in Ontario, Canada. We can’t wait for the space to be ready for visitors to engage with our exhibits! Creative Machines was there every step of the way with three members of our team going along for the install to make certain everything was put into place correctly. Check out some behind-the-scenes photos of the shipping and installation process below. Check out pa

Fabrication is almost 100% complete for the four exciting new exhibits we have going into Science North in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada! Here are a few more images of the finishing touches going in place for Building with Light, Lissajous, Linkages and Pulleys, and Overhead Fans. Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes photos from our team during the installation! Check out past blog posts on Science North: Visit From Science North, Science North Fabrication Part 1. #joeoconnell #s

Fabrication has begun on a brand new, state-of-the-art ball machine for Zimmer Children’s Museum by Sharewell, which is reopening as The Cayton Children’s Museum in late spring 2019! (#TheCaytonIsComing)! This highly specialized and interactive ball machine titled All Systems Go illustrates and promotes healthy living through exercise, rest, and healthy eating. The interactive components follow the idea that if you exercise and treat your body well, good things happen. Here a

The exhibits we are building for Science North are well underway! Science North is a one-of-a-kind science center located in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The museum prides itself on inspiring people of all ages to be engaged with the science of the world around them. We hope these interactive exhibits can aid them in that important mission! Here are some progress photos of the exhibits being fabricated out in the shop! These images include the construction of Building with Light

River Alive! exhibits for The Independence Seaport Museum located in Philadelphia, PA have been delivered and successfully installed. We are so excited for museum-goers to experience the new attraction! River Alive! is designed to teach visitors all about water as they discover the wonders and challenges of their regional waterways. Our work on Watershed Modeling, Rate the Risk, River Continuum Triggers, Highway Theatre, and Water Cycle Puzzle will help guests understand the

We recently had the pleasure of hosting visitors from Science North, an interactive science museum in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada and one of the area’s biggest tourist attractions. We are in the middle of building several exhibits for the center: Lissajous, Building with Light, Overhead Fans and Linkages & Pulleys. Here’s a little bit of information about the exhibits you see in the following images: Building with Light is a classic Creative Machines exhibit. In Buildin

We had some great kids visit the shop last week from Vail School District! Here are some photos from their trip to Creative Machines. They got to play with Lissajous, Building with Light, Watercolor Wall, Ball Machines and a Tennis Ball Launcher! #fieldtrip #joeoconnell #community #communityengagement #Exhibits #interactiveart #ballmachines #vailaz #Sculpture #InteractiveExhibits #Events #vailschooldistrict #tucson #ballmachine #Arizona #CreativeMachines

We've arrived at the final stages of fabrication of the Perpetual Nephron Machine! After these photos were taken, the machine was broken down, carefully packed, and shipped to San Diego to premiere at Kidney Week 2018. Kidney Week is hosted by the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) which leads the fight against kidney diseases by educating health professionals. The Perpetual Nephron Machine is designed to describe the process of uric acid removal in patients with CKD (chron

We are proud to say that MOXI, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation has once again won the designation of Best Museum in Santa Barbara for the second consecutive year! Creative Machines was the primary manufacturer of the dozens of awe-inspiring exhibits you will find at MOXI. We are so happy to hear our work is bringing joy into so many lives! Here is what the Santa Barbara Independent had to say about the museum: “Newsflash: MOXI ain’t just for kids, and that’s why i

We just finished shipping out a set of new exhibits to The Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia! These exhibits will complete the museum’s new River Alive! experience, a new 4,000-square-foot exhibition opening Thanksgiving Weekend. It will focus on the wonders and challenges of the Delaware River watershed, our place within that system, and the increasingly sophisticated science we use to understand the watershed’s complexity. Check out past posts for more on the fabr

Perpetual Nephron Machine is really coming together! It has moved out of the fabrication shop and into our clean assembly area after a fresh coat of paint was added to the frame and tracks. Here the electronics team is working on placing the intricate LED lighting and getting the timing of the balls rolling perfectly. Check out past blog posts about the making of Perpetual Nephron Machine here and here! #kidneyweek2018 #joeoconnell #StainlessSteel #perpetualnephronmachine #ro

We’re almost finished with the fabrication of The Independence Seaport Museum‘s River Alive! exhibits and are so excited to get the finishing touches in place and ship them to Philadelphia so that museum visitors can start playing (and learning!) with them. Here is a breakdown of each exhibit to give our followers a better understanding of the user experience. River Continuum The centerpiece of the River Alive! exhibition, River Continuum is an interactive media expression of

We recently completed fabrication on the Bicycle Generator for Toronto Public Library! What comes next? The testing phase, of course! We invited some awesome kids down to the shop to try out the exhibit. We think they enjoyed themselves! Check out the photos from their visit below. The Bicycle Generator is a pedal-racing game having two input stations – both a foot and hand crank and two LED towers to display progress and race results. Two guests can race each other, or a sin

We have been busy making a custom interactive racing exhibit for the Toronto Public Library called Bicycle Generator. This exhibit allows kids to pedal a bicycle or turn a pair of hand cranks to generate electricity on two WeWatt stations. As each side races against the other, a column of colorful LED lights begins to fill up the digital scoreboard in front of the players, signaling who is in the lead. Here are some photos of the team putting this exhibit together. #joeoconne

Our newest ball machine, Newton’s Convergence, has just been installed at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, PA. Here are some photos of the completed machine! Look back at past blog posts on this ball machine and see it come together from start to finish: Blog 1, Blog 2, Blog 3, Blog 4. #joeoconnell #kineticsculpture #StainlessSteel #kineticart #rollingballsculpture #georgerhoads #Exhibits #3dart #ballmachines #Sculpture #InteractiveExhibits #tucson #franklininstitute #

Fabrication continues on the fun array of exhibits we have in production for The Independence Seaport Museum‘s new attraction opening in November, River Alive! Here are some fun, behind-the-scenes shots of our team working hard on building each exhibit; Water Cycle Puzzle, River Continuum, Rate the Risk, Watershed Modeling, and River Theatre. Stay tuned for our next blog where we will tell you a little bit about how each exhibit works and how it teaches visitors about the reg

Our newest kinetic ball machine, Newton’s Convergence, is coming together quite nicely! All of the parts and pieces have been painted in bright, bold shades of blue and orange and installed into the frame. The machine is currently in testing to make sure all of the kinetic properties and devices are working without any glitches. Here are some photos of many of the fun details and contraptions that make this rolling ball sculpture tick! It even circulates golf balls for an add

Newton’s Convergence, our new rolling ball sculpture for The Franklin Institute, is really starting to come together into its final form. We had the entire frame powder-coated in a vibrant blue color. Here are some shots of the dual-frame kinetic sculpture coming together right before the colorful devices are attached. Stay tuned for more exclusive photos as this ball machine nears completion! Look back at past updates on this project: HERE and HERE. #joeoconnell #kineticscu