— Felix Beck 2017/10/01 05:55

• The Traditional Machine – An apparatus using mechanical power and having several parts, each with a definite function and together performing a particular task.
• The Enabling Machine – A machine type that enables you to do sth in a repetitive way that would not be doable in the same way without the machine.
• The Transforming Machine – A machine type that uses an input to make sth else out of it. It transformes A into B.
• The Use-less machine – A non-functional output. A machine that does nothing else than makes you smile falls under this category.
• The Visualizing Type – A machine that presents something. This could be an autonomous running machine or one that uses reactive or interactive input.

Do you agree or disagree with the above listed machine types? Are there others that come to your mind? What about the machine that triggers a human response e.g. emotions, ideas?

Some examples:

• Mechanical Principles (1930) by Ralph Steiner (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkQ2pXkYjRM)
• The Do Nothing Machine, Lawrence Wahlstrom, 1948 (http://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/Wahlstrom.htm)
• 10 Useless Machines That Do Nothing, Youtube compilation, 2015 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiG13q79iQE)
• Amazing LEGO Machines Compilation, 2014 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7-4g-XWHM4)
• Drawing Machine, Alfred Hoehn, 2008 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DjvtjgRdGA)
• The Zoanthroid, Felix Beck, 2011 (http://www.felix-beck.de/?/object/zoanthroid/)
• Self.Detach, Tim Horntrich, 2007 (http://digital.udk-berlin.de/?/students/horntrich-tim/projects/ws07-08.self-detach/)
• The Music Construction Machine, Niklas Roy, 2016 (http://www.niklasroy.com/project/191/MCM)
• Marble Machine, Wintergatan (https://wintergatan.bandcamp.com/track/marble-machine)
• My homemade cardboard claw machine, SlayerJP2004, 2016 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViQgm5S1osQ)