As an experiment in creative “costuming” of a tiny home, in 2018 Mickey McManus, Zen McManus, and Heike Rapp collaborated with Acme Prototyping in Chicago to turn a classic 1951 Airstream Flying Cloud into a cross between Bender from Futurama and a rocket ship. The goal was to attend Burning Man 2 weeks later with a full “working” costume that fit the theme that year, which was “I, Robot,” inspired by Isaac Asimov’s classic story.
Step 1? Sketch the idea, get a 1951 Airstream Flying Cloud, and take measurements.
Step 2? Make a quick model in Fusion, send off the sketches and model with key dimensions to Acme and drive the Airstream to Chicago for initial prototype construction and fitting.
Step 3? Acme day of final construction and figuring out how to fit it all in the Airstream for the drive west. Heike, Clint and team help solve last minute design/construction challenges.
Step 4? Oh, yeah, it’d be cool if the eyes of the bender bot actually worked, no? Let’s fit a double row of flip dot panels and we’ll figure out how to program them when we get to the burn…
Step 5? Go west. Yes, Benderbot parts are all inside the beast’s belly which makes it a bit tight to have morning coffee and eggs (also enjoy a bit of Yellowstone along the way…)
Step 6? Zen joins the adventure. High winds at Burning Man can ruin a good costume, so let’s spend a day or so figuring out how to tie down the parts just in case.
Oh yeah, let’s add a chrome vinyl overlay to SSR’s hood and roof to match the Benderbot!
Step 7? Assume fun/harrowing drive and adventures to get to Black Rock City. Once there, let’s get situated. It’s time to pull out the solar panels to power everything and finish wiring and programming the flip dots. The goal is to make them play autonomously and have various moods depending on who’s walking by! Yes each flip dot is really a little disk that’s black on one side and white on the other with a magnet that flips it programmatically. So many many cables…
Step 8? Wait for sunset and light up the rocket engine!
Step 9? Post requisite picture of grizzled old man posing by some sort of giant glorious art sculpture he found while roaming the playa.
Step 10? Leave the Wings of Desire robotic angel wing story for another day. Pack up and assume it’ll be quite a while before all the sand is cleaned out of the beast(s).
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