Massie/McLurkin Innovative Lives Program, MV 603.2
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.
label: Collection Inventor
content: Massie, Thomas
label: Collection Inventor
content: McLurkin, James
setName: label: See more items in
content: Massie/McLurkin Innovative Lives Presentation and Interviews
label: See more items in
content: Massie/McLurkin Innovative Lives Presentation and Interviews / Series 2: Master Videos
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1995-10-27
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Massie/McLurkin Innovative Lives Program

TRT: 47:00

Introductory remarks by Arthur Molella. McLurkin opens the program by explaining his microrobots and robotic communities. The idea is to get the robots to work like ants communicating with each other and having complex behaviors.  Massie presents his work with the Phantom, a device that lets you feel imaginary objects as the computer generates a force field. Students participate in taking apart radios and using the Phantom.  Several students speak to the camera, but there is no audio and the when there is audio, it does not match the images. Question and answer period with students: how long does it take to make a robot? Have you ever taken something apart and not been able to get it back together? Why did you choose ants? Do you make your own batteries? Did you always build things? What is the cost of one ant? How small can you make an ant? How much does the Phantom cost?