Eyeborg Project

… just like fictional character Cherry Darlingʼs leg in Grindhouse by Robert Rodriguez.

I am close to getting film funding for my Eyeborg doc (Jaysus, thank Gawd, etc) and one of the documentary subjects I need on board is some one, like me, who wants to Pimp Their Gimp.

Let me explain. I didnʼt come up with that term, Pimp My Gimp. I think the young soldiers in Iraq who lost various limbs mostly due to roadside bombs did. In fact, Doonesbury, a popular newspaper cartoonist, talks about it in his ongoing storyline.

So hereʼs the deal. Obviously I have some sense of what is like to lose a part of your body. I am looking for a woman missing one of her legs to have as much fun in the post-human realm as I have. Get some hot shit engineers and companies on board then live out a super hero fantasy. I want to help her Pimp Their Gimp.

Besides the Six Million Dollar Man (obviously)… My favourite missing-body-part superhero…is this woman right here.

Why let this character remain fictional? Not when we have the technology! (as they say in the opening to the Six Million Dollar Man) Here is the idea: We dont plan to hook up a real machine gun/rocket launcher to a woman with one leg. But perhaps… a world class paint ball marker leg?

We need an athletic, ass-kicking, kinda girl who wants on board. Eyeborg is taking applications.

Right now I am in Melbourne, Australia at the Other Film Festival — Australiaʼs only film festival featuring films about disabilities. Iʼm on the film jury and doing two speaking sessions down under. And the timing seems right.

Hereʼs the basics for the real Cherry Darling.

(1) You can be from anywhere but preferably close to Toronto, where I am from. If you truly kick ass it doesn’t matter where you are, we will find a way.

(2) We are going to help build you a paint ball machine gun leg and video document the process.

(3) When it’s all over you are going to take out dozens of dudes in a paintball gun match filmed Robert Rodriguez style.

(4) Your missing leg should be machine gun appropriate.

Send a photo, your height, and your story to:rob@eyeborgblog.com

Get your own Eyeborg augmented reality t-shirt here.

Instructions:
1. Pick up your own Eyeborg augmented reality t-shirt at the Eyeborg Shop.
2. Make sure your web cam is plugged in and turned on (some computers have this functionality built in)
3. Flash will ask for permission to access your web cam, please click on Allow
4. Flash your fancy t-shirt, with the design facing your web cam, and dance around!

A technical overview of the work that’s been done to date and the plans for the future can be seen on http://iamkosta.org

Kosta has been in Scotland for the last few week working with miniaturization experts on improving the functionality and battery life of the eye.

The HAR 2009 hacker conference in Holland was an amazing experience.  We would like to thank everyone who made the event possible– it was an honor to speak there, we had a blast.   If you would like to download the slides of the technical presentation click here.  Video will be up shortly.

But for now, how about a story?

***

Off again. After four months in Montreal it was time to up the ante. With a one way ticket to Amsterdam, full knowledge of a terrible exchange rate (1.7 CAD = 1 EUR), and as few possessions as possible I was about to embark on a grand unplanned European adventure of a life time. First stop: hacking camp.

Nerds are amazing. I don’t know how many of you were the jerks who picked on us in high school—but let me tell you, the older I get, the more “vogue” it becomes to be a nerd. Travis Eden, who hit his high school popularity peak at my expense is still living with mom and pursuing a thrilling career in the concrete pumping industry. WHO’S COOL NOW TRAVIS!? PS: I made-out with your ex-girlfriend, yeah the one who dumped you.

The beautiful girls seem to be intrigued by a man who’s passionate about something, and we nerds are good at that. A past girlfriend of mine considered the simple act of talking about nerdy things foreplay. String a few sentences about particle accelerators, oscilloscopes, fluid dynamics, and space travel (in no particular order) “I voltage regulated a mosfet and impedance matched an inertial black hole while I was touring the large hadron collider babe.”

…and she was taking off her clothes.

–To Read more go to iamkosta.org–

The bourgeoisie have the right idea. I type to you today from the 7th story fine dining facility of the Rockefeller Hotel and Club located just steps away from Rockefeller center in NYC. Around me the suits are having power meetings, pounding away on their laptops/blackberry, and trying desperately to stay (or at least look) busy. There’s a bar with enough booze to intoxicate the Russian army, the walls are lined with art that looks as if it was pumped out by a team of charcoal briquette wielding 4 year olds, and a very out of place “FIRST AID FOR CHOKING” poster dutifully informs while throwing off the motif entirely.
(READ MORE @ iAmKosta.org)

What a day. Rob had the audacity to bang on my door and wake me up after a measly three hours of sleep. I guess it was my fault for going to bed at 7 a.m. — but can you blame me? Toronto is a happening city, it’s dying to be romped around in during the wee hours of the morning.  I promise you I wasn’t staying out of trouble.

But the good news is that the stunningly beautiful Kris Reyes from City News had arrived to do a bit of an interview.   I remembered to not wear the same shirt that I’ve worn for the last few televised interviews.  C’mon though, it’s part of marketing, wear the same lame shirt and someone is bound to remember what the hell you’re doing.  Right? Right?  Probably not.

After that we rushed of to CTV to shoot a spot for The Daily Planet show.  I monkeyed around with linear editing equipment, and Rob tried his best not to freak the world out while he… uh…. “manually installed” a prototype eye housing.   Removing and installing a cyborg eye for the television cameras is not alarming in the least– it’s fun. Right kids?  Stay tuned for that.  Actually– have a picture.

In other news– the camera board is up and running off of battery power.  Now it’s just a matter of integrating the whole thing together.

Stay smart eyeborg readers! You’re the best.

-Kosta

Jimmy Fallon Spoofs the Eyeborg Project from eyeborg on Vimeo.

Thank you Jimmy Fallon for your comic wonderment.

Kosta looks like a deer in headlights from eyeborg on Vimeo.

Kosta does his first LIVE interview with FOX News. A future in television– definite maybe. The brilliant part of this clip: Rob is referred to as a man who wishes to “fight crime!” EYBORGMAN WILL SAVE THE DAY! We love it.

You were kind enough to mention your interest in the EyeBorg Project on your twitter feed. We’re glad you’re hiring one-eyed people, because we have just the guy for you! Lets get in touch, because we have some ideas for the best punk’d ever.

There’s a rumor going around that the eyeborg team put up a new movie about the project.  We hate rumors, so we’re here to set the record straight– yes we have, and you can watch it here.

In other news:  all the worlds a-twitter and so are we.  Follow us, or we’ll shoot laser beams out of our eye at you.

http://twitter.com/eyeborg

hugs n’ stuff

I would like to give a big shoutout to Joenis of  Anhedonia Blue and Ali of Spaghetti Strap Western for their amazing help in creating the new website. We’re not just a blog anymore!

Some updates:
Kosta sent in the first revision of the eye for manufacturing– thank you Candor Industries for making the thinnest PCB board we’ve ever seen, and Micro Art for soldering the BGA (ball grid array = so small you need a microscope and an xray machine to solder these components!) packages we’re having some difficulties getting the CMOS sensor fired up, but we’re learning a ton!

Rob is in Brussels at the moment talking to the press at the 2009 Digital News Affairs Conference. He’s a a big speaker– his mom and all of us are very proud.

We’ve all been shooting a ton of video and Rob is putting together an EPIC trailer about the the project. You should see it on the home page of the website in a few days.

Big thing are coming! Stay tuned!