Urban Orchard

Our blog has been pretty quiet for the last few weeks - we've all been outside, enjoying the last of the summer sun putting together a giant outdoor project for Dundee Urban Orchard. The project was installed on the piazza outside Dundee Science Centre and the Dundee Contemporary Arts - if you know the area - you'll know the space.

We built 17 planters in various sizes and arranged them in a golden spiral layout with larch inserts - every single one has its own unique placement - which was fun! Earlier this week, apple trees were planted in them and they are to remain as a permanent feature on the piazza. Inside the planter arrangement is a mini-stage and seating, where we hope people will be able to sit and enjoy the urban orchard while they eat their lunch.

For more information, see the press release on STV about the Dundee Urban Orchard project.

The photos: top right you can see us putting the units together onsite and bottom right you can see Clive Gillman from the DCA and Louise Smith from DSC looking pretty chuffed with the apple tree they have just planted!

Open Dialogue

Last week, FifeX completed work on a 'bench' with a difference. The bench was commissioned by Jonathan Baxter and was designed and produced for an art event which featured as part of Decision Time Scotland in the DCA, Dundee - it was used as the focus for discussions about open dialogue, where 12 participants could engage in discussion.

It exists in four parts as you can see and comes together to form a complete hoop. This is the latest in a series of fabrication projects which FifeX has been working on this summer.

Royal Observatory Edinburgh

Last month we joined up with Lyndsey Clark and Chris Peters to work on upgrading some exhibits in the Royal Observatory Edinburgh. 

The exhibits themselves have been in the dome a long time and lasted incredibly well - our job was to freshen them up - everything was done in-house and they were finished in a light blue colour which matched them beautifully to the telescope in the dome itself.

On the right you can see the exhibit where users can split white light into the visible spectrum. Below there is a snap of the Spectroscopy exhibit, where users can see the spectra of four different gases viewed through diffraction gratings.

If you fancy seeing the Royal Observatory Visitor Centre, you should pop down on the open weekend at the end of September!

View more about the Royal Observatory build on FifeX's website

Marking 100 Years

FifeX has just finished designing a multimedia booth for part of a project with the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum. The museum tells the story of how conflict affected the county and the media booth here includes four very interesting movie clips for visitors including two interviews with soldiers.

It arrived on Saturday, ready for a busy period as visitors come to the museum to mark 100 years since the start of WW1.

Our booth is designed to be super-flexible and runs using an extremely configurable Raspberry Pi. We're hoping that this project will be a good stepping-stone for more like it in the future.

Meantime, if you're in or around Woodstock, you should definitely see what is going on at SOFO, they have a very busy events calendar!

Dukes, Hazards and Speed

As expected, The Royal Society Summer Science event attracted a number of high-profile visitors during the week including the Duke of Kent.

There were many photo opportunities as you would expect. On the left he is discussing The Science of Speed with the team from Heriot Watt and on the right he is seen preparing for a shot on the FifeX Reaction Timer.

We have it on good authority that he did pretty well on the timer too!

Watching Photons

This video was recorded at the Royal Society using an incredible piece of kit belonging to the team at 'Creative Cameras'.

The camera is actually able to detect individual photons and what you are seeing here is the result of that - each pixel representing one photon.

FifeX designed and built the box for this which houses the laser and mirror system which was used in London - visitors were actually able to see this in action.

It's possibly a way off being added to the next smartphone but it was pretty amazing to see!

Fun in the Summer

Well, May, June and July have been crazy so far and there's almost too much to talk about. The Royal Society event was great and we've just found out that our Reaction Timer was also featured there on a 'Road Safety Scotland' stand. The Duke of Kent used it and scored a pretty respectable time we are told! We're hoping to get some photos.

There are various exciting things going on with Dynamic Earth, the Royal Observatory and Fort George as well as media players and Raspberry Pis - lots more to follow - watch this space!

On the right we have a photo of one of the wave tanks that we made for 'Get Energised' earlier in the year. The yellow and black parts are all 3D printed including the working part with the motor that generates the waves.

Royal Society Summer Exhibition

FifeX has been quiet on the blog for a while - we've been incredibly busy working on two fantastic exhibitions which are on show this week at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. If you're in London this week, it's well worth a visit with some of the country's leading scientists and engineers displaying their work in incredibly creative ways!

We've really enjoyed working with two amazing  groups from Heriot Watt who have been doing some fantastic public engagement!

We'll have more photos of the things we made very soon.

Cooking with Gas!

FifeX has continued its work at Stirling Castle and has recently been contributing to the improvements in the castle's kitchens.

On the right, Keiron is re-attaching one of the large recipe books to a table.

As well as looking better, the place is also smelling better as a result of some new scent units installed by FifeX. Stirling Castle has developed its own 'baking bread' smell - it has to be smelled to be believed!

FifeX @ Stirling Castle

FifeX is delighted to be working for Historic Scotland, doing some repair work at Stirling Castle. Here, Ken is inspecting one of the interactives in the vaults underneath the Palace.

Flood Risk Models

A few years ago, FifeX worked on a fantastic project with Heriot-Watt University and Dr. Grant Wright. (We're actually working on something else with him right now - news to follow shortly). Anyway, the large water models took a huge amount of work and at the time we didn't get many photos of them. Last week we discovered this video which has some great shots of one of the models in action and also has some more information about the educational value of the models and some comments from the Scottish Government who have been big supporters of the work that Grant and his team are doing. If nothing else, the dramatic music is great!

Royal Society Planning!

FifeX was delighted to be asked to speak once again at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition Planning Day. A number of incredibly exciting scientists come together to show their work every year at the Royal Society during July and yesterday was when the preparations really began for July 2014. FifeX has been involved in this exhibition a number of times and yesterday we spoke about budgets and planning. We spoke to a few exhibitors and some of the exhibitions for this year sound fantastic. If you're around in London at the start of July, you should really stop by - the website is here and details will start to emerge over the next couple of months.

Pedal Power

FifeX has just finished PEDAL POWER for Northamptonshire County Council.

This energy bike is going into their new centre alongside a small hand generator that we built at the end of 2013.

The bike allows people to power a small radio, fan and even a heater if they can muster up enough energy!

There are no conversions or fancy electronics - this bike and the user's power are all that is needed to make it work.

Wha's Like Us?

Last week, FifeX was pleased to attend the official opening of Wha's Like Us?, which is the new winter exhibition at the National Library of Scotland.

"A Nation of Dreams and Ideas". The exhibition designed by Stuco gives a fantastic A to Z of scottish inventions including the classics but also some of the less well-known ideas. If you're in Edinburgh, you should definitely pop in.

The website is here which will show you opening times.

FifeX put in the IT and AV things including software, slideshows and some interesting videos - one of which has a very old video of Cliff Richard doing some ceilidh!

On the right you can see Jane in the reading chair looking through some of the books they have on display.