Kiel Bryant Hosier's CompuBots Kiel (and Mom Addie) with Bruce Damer at the DigiBarn Museum, in front of the Cray 1 "Superduper" Computer! What would an early all-in-one Macintosh look like if it grew up and became a robot? That's the question behind a collection of fanciful sketches of vintage-computers-cum-robots -- or "CompuBots" -- created by designer Kiel Hosier for the DigiBarn Computer Museum. Hosier, an 18-year-old graphic designer from Sunnyvale, California, collects old computer systems. One evening he sketched one of the early Macs in his collection, adding a pair of robot legs. He sent the sketch to DigiBarn Curator Bruce Damer, who suggested he do a whole series and provided a list of candidate machines. You find a page with more info about Kiel Hosier at DigiBarn. The series includes the Mac 512K (or Fat Mac), an Apple Computer Lisa, a Xerox Alto and a MITS Altair 8800. Read the complete Article written by Leander Kahney at wired.com They sleep at the foot of my bed. Every night, staring into the black. Vintage computer systems. Old, loyal. As an aspiring conceptual designer, it's never been very difficult for me to imagine them walking away on robot-legs. But it wasn't until I needed something new to illustrate that a very rambunctious MacBot demanded to be drawn. Pencil met paper, and all you see below were born. Certain were unusually difficult -- an original design might have been a practical compu-bot, but did it properly honor its progenitor? Thus the process became an evolution: sometimes cycling through FOUR to SIX radical style-changes before settling down into a suitable form. Even with all of that, I never tire of them (completely). Because of that I can promise . . . more to come! Kiel Bryant Hosier Get your own print of a CompuBot... Size: 8 x 10 Inch is $15.00 or $25.00 if signed + shipping costs. To buy a printed CompuBot by Kiel Hosier, please contact him directly by e-mail. Also presented at: www.digibarn.com and wired.com Kaufen Sie einen CompuBot... Print Größe: 8 x 10 Inch für $15.00 oder $25.00 wenn Signiert + Versandkosten. Um einen Print von Kiel Hosier zu kaufen, kontakten Sie Ihn (in englisch) per eMail. Sollten Sie des englischen nicht mächtig sein, vermittle ich gerne. Kiel wird auch auf folgenden Seiten präsentiert: www.digibarn.com und wired.com Hosier originally planned to add a wheel to the Apple IIe for the C3-IIe CompuBot. But the wheel morphed into a hand, giving the bot a "Borg-assimilated" look. Based on Apple's Lisa 2, an early Mac progenitor, the Lisamatic has a tethered companion based on the Lisa's much-loved mouse. The MacBot is based on Apple's Mac 512K, or Fat Mac. "This one I liked the most," said Hosier. "He's the main character. Apple computers already have a lot of personality. It's easier to complement that." Kiel Hosier based his Altex CompuBot on the Xerox Alto, the legendary progenitor of all PCs. "I just wanted to do a tricycle," explained Hosier about why the machine ended up as a three-wheeled bot. 3Com's Audrey, an oversized kitchen PDA, becomes the Audron, a two-wheeled scooter robot. "It comes form the world of Lucas and that kind of stuff," explained Hosier. "It's something simple." The MITS Altair 8800, the machine that started Bill Gates and Microsoft, is transformed into a spider-like bot called the MITSubo. Hosier reported a lot of trouble coming up with a design. "It's just a rectangular box, basically," he said. The CrayBot -- a behemoth bot on tractor tracks -- is based on the Cray 1 supercomputer. "It's a big, lumbering superbot for a supercomputer," Hosier said. New!... GRiDroid Pride of generals in the early 1980s, their fear in the 2020s! All photos: Courtesy of Kiel Hosier Size: 8 x 10 Inch is $15.00 or $25.00 if signed + shipping costs. To buy a printed CompuBot by Kiel Hosier, please contact him directly by e-mail. Also presented at: www.digibarn.com and wired.com