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.