dorkbot / SxSW 2007
Category: Event
Armadillo News
A small independent film company, The Management Productions, asked the Robot Group if we had a robotic head that they could use in their movie.
The Babbling Head was working and available so we agreed. The film is called Armadillo News and follows the antics of a high school journalism class. Filming was done in the parking lot of St. Paul’s Lutheran church.
Armadillo News was shown at the Texas Union Theater on Saturday, May 22, 2004 and made its public debut in October 2004 at the Austin Film Festival.
Stills, trailer and info at: http://www.plasticsentertainment.com/
[Text and images originally from http://wiki.therobotgroup.org/wiki/ArmadilloNews]
Outreach : Austin Public Library
On July 07, 2004, then-President Eric Lundquist presented at the Manchaca Road Branch of the Austin Public Library as part of their Wired for Youth Summer Reading Program.
Eric demonstrated several robots for an enthusiastic audience of kids and parents. Babbling Head recited a short story and sand several songs. The Compubotics CR01 robot explored the floors and table tops. The P5 Glove, a virtual reality glove, was a huge hit!
1st Annual CAM Carnival, 2004-07-03
From the press release :
Saturday July 3rd, 2004 with the Butthole Surfers’ INDUSTRIAL BAND THE JACK OFFICERS and Austin, TX-based The Robot Group and a bunch of other acts!!
At 357 Blue Star Arts Complex San Antone, TX.
yee hawww!!!!!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!!!
Saturday July 3rd, 2004
CAM Entertainment Presents : The 1st Annual CAM Carnival, The Official Contemporary Art Month Kickoff Party & Fundraiser. With the Jack Officers, (featuring Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers), Kal Spelletich of the SEEMEN Robotics Collective, Louis Katz and his Flaming Pipe Organ, The Robot Group, Boxcar Satan, DJ Deep Feel & Sonic Uke. PLUS Art Cars from around the state and classic one-dollar entry freak booths in a vintage carnival atmosphere. Full cash bar provided by South Presa’s newest hotspot, Tequila Island. Co-hosted by Blue Star Art Space. Produced by Robert Tatum, Director of CAM San Antonio.
Blue Star Silos, 401 Blue Star Street, SAT July 3, 8 PM – 1 AM; $10 Press Contact (General Info) Anjali Gupta 210.533.5762 Or go to http://www.camsanantonio.org
In-Kind Sponsors of the CAM Kickoff Carnival : The San Antonio Current, KRTU, Hill Country Springs, 1906 Gallery, Alamo Beer Company and Krazy Kat Music.
Schedule :
12:00 midnight
The Jack Officers (NYC/Austin) Gibby Hayes is best known as the front man of the Butthole Surfers, but has performed under various names for years. Once dubbed the fount of “the most repulsive music in rock and roll history” by the Village Voice, the Butthole Surfers formed in 1981 in San Antonio. From such modest beginnings, the Surfers went on to become one of the most influential post-punk bands in the world. The Jack Officers side-project began in 1991. Like the Surfers, The Jack Officers combine Situationist-style performative elements and seriously strange music, accompanied by the film projections. Hayes now lives and works in New York City.
Press Contact : Nathan Calhoun 512-472-5097
11:00 PM
Boxcar Satan (San Antonio) Boxcar Satan is a San Antonio-based rock trio that deconstructs American roots music and pours a particularly venomous brand of self-loathing noise from the demon bottle. Depression-era Delta blues, post-industrial field hollers, free improv and a healthy dose of post-punk skronk are fused together like quadruplets joined at the head.
Press Contact : Sanford Allen 210.736.5124
10:00 PM
Kal Spelletich/The SEEMAN (San Francisco) Since their formation in 1988, the SEEMEN have staged more than 1000 performances throughout the US, Canada and Europe at arts institutions, clubs, warehouses and the occasional freeway underpass. In 1990, Kal Spelletich relocated from Austin to San Francisco, and from 1995-2004 he has performed with a rotating group of collaborators. The SEEMEN were the featured performers at Burning Man in Black Rock, Nevada. Their works have also been exhibited at the Jack Hanley Gallery and Deitch Gallery NYC. Spelletich’s robotic sculptures are included in the collections of the New York Museum of Modern Art and the Getty.
Press Contact : Kal Spelletich 415.821.7621
David Nunez takes on Kal Spelletich’s exoskeleton 
Kal Spelletich and a volunteer play with fire 
More playing with fire
9:00 PM
Sonic Uke (Austin) Three singers; one little guitar. Austin based trio Sonic Uke may very well make the ukulele the sexiest instrument in history.
Press Contact : Dirty Baby 512.385.4668
8:30 PM on
Louis H. Katz (Corpus Christi) Spontaneous performances throughout the night. Louis Katz’s Flaming Pipe Organ is an amalgam of the artist’s ceramics studio practice and live performance – a complex kiln structure with multiple chimneys and a musical instrument. Katz received his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and his MFA from Montana State University. He is an Associate Professor of Ceramics at Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi, Texas.
Press Contact : Bill Fitz Gibbons 210.723.3048
8 PM
DJ Deepfeel (San Antonio) Spontaneous performances throughout the night. Deepfeel, aka Jaime Lopez, comes from the contemporary world of DJ Culture. Taking cues from the old school – Reggae Soundsystem, Northern Soul and early American House – Deepfeel brings back the importance of two things : the music; the vibe.
Press Contact : Jaime Lopez 210.737.6350
Head in the Clouds sculpture 
Ring of Fire 
Silo wall decoration
8 PM
The Robot Group (Austin) Spontaneous performances throughout the night. The Robot Group was founded in the Spring of 1989 by a small group of artists and engineers with a shared vision of fusing art and technology. The collaborative has attracted a diverse audience of tech and non-tech alike, and garnered international recognition. The Group’s activities have been covered in Newsweek, Mondo 2000, boing-boing, and FringeWare Review. They have also appeared on Good Morning America, Art Brigade, Kulture Report, and the Discovery Channel. The group will be moving about the crowd with their various creations all evening.
Press Contact : David Nuñez 512.796.9545
Gorillabot 
Robot Group hanging out 
Blue Star silos 
Don Colbath
Another Fifteen Minutes
On Thursday, September 4th, 2003, at 7:00pm, the Austin Museum of Art (823 Congress Ave, Austin, 78701) presented “Another Fifteen Minutes : An Evening with Warholabot and Ediebot.” Admission was $5.00.
The show was in conjunction with the opening of AMOA’s new Andy Warhol exhibit. Robot Group members, the dashing Glenn Currie and the grizzled Eric Lundquist, portrayed the mysterious Men in Black.
“Andy Warhol once said that he wanted to be a machine. What if he actually became a machine?
In 2017, a mysterious group of beings, known as The Nine, have extracted Andy’s soul essence and inserted it into an Andy Warhol robot.”
“Andy Warholabot and Ediebot (Warhol Superstar Edie Sedgwick) will time-travel from 2017 in an Interdimensional Limousine to 2003 in order to put in an appearance in the gallery of the AMOA where they will be interviewed by Mega 93.3 DJ Miss Kitty. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear Andy Warholabot and Ediebot talk about art, fame and silver pillows.”
Written and Directed by Sidney Moody
Robert Patterson as Andy Warholabot
Lisl Friday / Acclaim Talent as Ediebot
Miss Kitty playing herself as “The Interviewer”
Glenn Currie and Eric Lundquist as the Men In Black
Musical Accompaniment by Golden Arm Trio
Costumes by Big Bertha
Hair and Make-up by Avant Salon
Glenn Currie 
Eric Lundquist with Lisl Friday (Ediebot)
Insomniac Party
July 03, 2003, a date that will live in infamy.
Robot Group members get together to watch a long-awaited episode of Comedy Central’s Insomniac with Dave Attell. You know, the episode in which Dave and his crew visited with The Robot Group!
Mark Hinkle 
Jocelyn Hinkle holding Linnet
Mark Hinkle and his wife, Jocelyn, were our hosts for the evening. There was great food and drink for everyone. Fresh baked bread, cakes, dips, BBQ … mmm, mmm, mmm.
Derek Bridges, Don Colbath, Tom Davidson, Tami Friedman, Mark Hinkle, Eric Lundquist, Krista Lundquist, Tom Morin, Sonia Santana, Denise Scioli, and Mike Scioli were in attendance.
Dave Attell visits The Robot Group
“Sleep is for the weak.”
Dave Attell
The fourth season ran from 5/29/03-7/31/03 (Thursdays at 10pm|9c). The Austin episode first aired on July 3, 2003.
Members got together at Mark Hinkle’s home to watch the show at the Insomniac Party.
![Dave Attell and his crew on their visit to The Robot Group [Tai Chi Charlie in the background with Kevin Derichs]](http://therobotgroup.titaniumgecko.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/TRG_-_Insomniac_05200025-cropped.jpg)
The episode aired again on July 6, 2003 at 10:30pm CT and was rerun several other times.
![Dave Attell and his crew on their visit to The Robot Group [Brooks Coleman on the right sporting his Dylanesque leopard-skin pillbox hat]](http://therobotgroup.titaniumgecko.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/TRG_-_Insomniac_05200023-cropped-1024x638.jpg)
In an interview with The Onion A.V. Club, Dave Attell mentions that it was 20 degrees outside when he filmed in Austin.
He also refers to the organization as The South Austin Robot Group. Alas, this is a common gaff. We are The Robot Group, Inc. and, at the time, we hung-out in the south of Austin.
Outreach : Barton Creek Elementary School, 2nd grade, Gifted & Talented class
The Robot Group was invited to the 2nd grade Gifted & Talented class at Barton Creek Elementary.
Eric Lundquist brought the Babbling Head, Catherine the Creative, and the P5 Virtual Reality Glove.
Eric Lundquist monitors as Babbling Head entertains the troops. 
Babbling Head entertains the students with a song or two. 
Eric Lundquist and the class observe Catherine the Creative as she manipulates a chess piece. 
Eric Lundquist demonstrates the P5 Virtual Reality glove. 
Eric Lundquist with the students in the Barton Creek Elementary School, 2nd grade Gifted & Talented class as they experience the P5 Virtual Reality glove.
The students were great and had a lot of interesting questions. Babbling Head sang a few songs. Catherine the Creative moved a chess piece around. All of the students got a chance to try out the virtual reality glove.
Everyone had a lot of fun.
South by Southwest Interactive Media Trade Show 2001
In March 2001, The Robot Group, Inc. set up shop at the SxSW Interactive Media Trade Show. The highlight of the show was a catapult built by a local high school that was used for lobbing t-shirts and other goodies to show attendees.
SXSW 2001 Load-in at venue (L-R : Eyebot, Tai Chi arm, Aaron Lundquist, Derek Bridges, Lauren Kopplin carrying Babbling Head)
SXSW 2001 Load-in at venue (L-R : Eyebot, Tai Chi arm, Aaron Lundquist, Derek Bridges, Lauren Kopplin carrying Babbling Head)
SXSW 2001 Load-up at the warehouse (L-R : Aaron Lundquist, Tom Morin, Derek Bridges, Eric Lundquist, Bill Craig)
SXSW 2001 Load-up at the warehouse (L-R : Aaron Lundquist, Tom Morin, Derek Bridges, Eric Lundquist, Bill Craig)
SXSW 2001 booth all set up (Babbling Head on table, over banner, Eyebot)
SXSW 2001 booth all set up (Babbling Head on table, over banner, Eyebot)
SXSW 2001 booth (L-R : Don Colbath, Brooks Coleman, catapult in foreground, GatorGirl in background)
SXSW 2001 booth (L-R : Don Colbath, Brooks Coleman, catapult in foreground, GatorGirl in background)
SXSW 2001 Target area for catapult. Anna Nedeau in the bright footwear, Tami Friedman at the far right.
SXSW 2001 Target area for catapult. Anna Nedeau in the bright footwear, Tami Friedman at the far right.
SXSW 2001 Radio-controlled Shop-Vac®
SXSW 2001 Radio-controlled Shop-Vac®
SXSW 2001 Brooks Coleman with mannequin
SXSW 2001 Brooks Coleman with mannequin
SXSW 2001 Eric Lundquist chats with attendees
SXSW 2001 Eric Lundquist chats with attendees. Babbling Head (on table) and Eyebot can also be seen.
SXSW 2001 Eric Lundquist (with RC control unit)
SXSW 2001 Eric Lundquist (with RC control unit) steers Tom Davidson's & Sonia Santana's Eyebot around the floor.
SRL comes to ATX
Mark Pauline’s Survival Research Laboratories put on a show entitled “The Unexpected Destruction of Elaborately Engineered Artifacts : A misguided adventure in risk eradication, happening without known cause, in connection with events that are not necessarily related” at Longhorn Speedway, Austin, TX on 1997-03-28.
The SRL show was produced Bill Craig, Tom Davidson, and Paco X with substantial logistical assistance provided by Diana DeFrancesco.
For reasons of liability, The Robot Group, Inc. was not involved in any way with the production or the promotion of the show. Individual members were free to volunteer or help as they wished.
[Editorial note : I am awaiting Mark Pauline’s permission to use the Austin show’s poster as the featured image on this page.]