The Zoetop: a kinesthetic aware zoetrope

We introduce the Zoetop, an innovative variation of the Zoetrope opening up new opportunities for design. At the core of the Zoetop is a small and inexpensive electronic device that can be embedded on any naturally spinning object, such as hand-spun spinning tops, car wheels, bouncing balls, or windmills. The device uses an inertial sensor to keep track of its own instantaneous axis of rotation and angular speed. It then produces a constant number of flashes per revolution regardless of speed variations, and corresponding to the number of frames in the animation. As a consequence animations can be created without strobe light synchronization, delicate mechanical setups including driving motors, or any form of calibration. As such, this “kinaesthetic-aware” computational Zoetrope offers new opportunities for deployment in the wild, augmenting hand-spun toys, wind-powered chimes, propellers or fans with animated graphics. We believe that the Zoetop can inspire designers and the DIY community to come up with new ideas centered around this age-old yet still fascinating Victorian-era optical gadget.