We launched the St Georges App just over a month ago and are now up to around 400 downloads across iPhone and Android. Word of mouth feedback has been great with people commenting on both the ease of use of the app and the excellent content, in particular the Changing Industries in Leicester's Cultural Quarter guide.

However, we see this as just the starting point. The app has been designed to allow new guides to be easily added via the Empedia website. The web-based tools let a non-technical person upload and maintain multimedia content that can be fed to the app at the push of the button.

The next batch of new content is due to be delivered via the DigiCROP project with Leicester University. This should see soundscapes and spoken word guides being created that further explore the history of the Culture Quarter. Some of this work will be quite innovative, with new features being added to the app that will allow multiple layers of sound to be played as you explore the area.

We're also looking at ways of using different types of computer-readable 'tags' within the app. It already supports the use of QR Codes to trigger the playback of content, but work to integrate wireless iBeacons and RFID tags is underway. This will allow multimedia materials to play automatically when you, for example, enter buildings or pass indoor points of interest.

As we make use of more of these technologies, the St Georges App will be able to deliver increasingly personalised content to you as you walk around the Cultural Quarter. We hope that it will provide a fascinating example of how new technologies can enhance a person's understanding of the space they are in - both in terms of its past and its present.

We are also looking to work with people who have ideas of their own and would like to use the platform to realise them. If you haven't done so already then download the app and have a play. If you have ideas for new content you would like to see then please get in touch.

Everybody loves robots don't they? Especially low-cost robots controlled by low-cost computers? The last of my winter holiday projects is a simple way of controlling the low-cost robotic arm from Maplin (£29.99 when on offer) with the similarly low-priced Raspberry Pi computer. As per usual, most of the work getting this project together has been done by someone else, but I have made some additions to the control program that are worth sharing.

First you need to get and build the robotic arm itself. The easiest place to get it from is Maplin, but you can sometimes find it cheaper on Amazon or eBay. The yellow and black look for the arm make it easy to identify unbranded versions of it. It's a moderately complex kit to build, but take your time and I'm sure you'll be fine. No soldering is required. I spread the work for the whole project over an afternoon and an evening.

The kit comes with a USB connection and software for a PC. However, it is just as easy to connect it to a Raspberry Pi. Full instructions on how to do this - which involves downloading the PyUSB software and running a simple Python script - are given on this site. It's very straightforward.

I decided to upgrade the provided Python script so that you can send the robotic arm simple commands via the command line. For example, typing sudo python arm.py sd wd go tells the shoulder motor to do down, then the wrist motor to go down and then the gripper to open. Not particularly fancy, but a decent basis for a more complex project I think.

For the next step I fancy placing my Raspberry Pi camera on top of the arm and writing an image processing script that will get the robotic arm to follow people as they walk around a room!

You can download the Python code here from my BitBucket account. I have also put some pictures and a short video of the project here on Flickr.

I've made a few start of year updates to my website. Firstly, I've published a page of pictures of various Crass-related events and exhibitions I've been to over the past 5 years or so. I've got most stuff that I may upload in the future. Next, I've uploaded quite a big collection of early websites I produced in the 1990s. There's a mixture of arts and music sites (which I think are the most interesting) and examples of some of the commercial projects I worked on at the time. After 20 years the sites look quite primitive, but some of the content is good. Check out the work we did as Resonance in the mid-1990s. Geoff Broadway's The Axe is a particular highlight. Finally, I've done some housekeeping, like removing broken links and updating my profile. I'm going to try to get back in to weekly blog updates too, so remember to stay tuned for the usual mix of art and technology posts.

I've been using some of my time off this holiday season to put together a few projects that I've had ready and waiting in the studio. One of these was - to give it it's full name - the Evil Mad Scientist Laboratory and Super Awesome Sylvia WaterColorBot.

This Kickstarter-funded project from www.evilmadscientist.com is basically a 2D plotter that holds a watercolour brush instead of a pen. It comes in kit form and took me a couple of hours to put together. It takes standard watercolour paper and the popular (and cheap) Crayola watercolour paint set. With a bit of clever programming (and a few water resevoirs) the machine is able to produce actual watercolour paintings based on live user control or standard PNG graphic files.

Now that I've had a bit of time to play with it I have to say I'm really impressed. The idea for the machine apparently came from Super Awesome Sylvia - a young girl in the US who is into making/hacking - and it's definitely something that young people will want to play with. It also looks great.

I particularly like the way you can run off multiple copies of a painting and that, despite following the same set of commands, every painting is slightly different. This is due to differences in how the paint sits on the brush and the small amounts of slack in the mechanism. It makes a nice contrast to the carbon-copy 'perfection' expected in most modern printing devices.

The machine is also very hackable, with expectation that owners will try different painting and drawing implements with it and write their own software (everything is open source and examples of code are available). I've already seen examples of people using marker pens with the WaterColorBot to good effect.

I plan to move my WaterColorBot to Interact Labs at Phoenix in a few weeks time. Come along to the next Digital Makers Group meeting on the 18th January 2014 if you want to have a go at making your own paintings with it. See a short video of the 'bot in action here and some pictures of it here.

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've posted to my blog! It must be the longest break I've had for years. Still, while I may have been quiet here I've been quite busy over at the new Interact Labs site. This new project officially launched on the 26th October and is starting to take off nicely.

Here's a summary of what has happened at Interact Labs over the past month. The Creative Manifesto group are now meeting at the space fortnightly and used it as a base for the construction of their lights for their Light the Night project. Leicester Hackspace is also meeting there fortnightly and is making moves towards setting up it's own space in the new year. We've also had Steve Mills making use of the 3D printer as part of his residency at Two Queens and Esther Rolinson visited to work on her installation for next year. The Digital Makers Group has had an event, Martin Rieser gave a great Computer Arts Society talk and various other meetings and visits have taken place.

The next activity will be the launch of the new St Georges iPhone and Android app on Friday 29th November. This is the result of a collaboration between Cuttlefish, Phoenix and Leicester University and will give users a new way of exploring Leicester's Cultural Quarter. We also have a talk by Antipodes artist Layla Curtis on the 10th December.

I normally try to write a blog post once a week. But I've been a bit slack recently, not through lack of activity, but through business with a new project - Interact Labs. What's this about I hear you ask? Well, to quote from the new interactlabs.co.uk website:

"Interact Labs is a new programme designed to encourage people to be creative with digital technology. Equipped with everything from DIY hardware kits to a state of the art 3D printer, Interact Labs provides a space at Phoenix in Leicester dedicated to learning, experimentation, creative collaboration and making new things."

Basically, it's a new physical space at Phoenix in Leicester that is going to be focussed on getting more people creative with technology. It's something of a follow-on from The Interact Gallery that I ran at Fabrika in 2011 and 2012, but with a stronger emphasis on making things.

Go to the interactlabs.co.uk website to find out more.

On the 3rd October 1993 I sent out an email announcing the opening of my first website. At the time there were about 250 websites in the world and in a pre-search engine world the way to the get world out about your site was to post a message to the Usenet forums. Other website owners would link to your site and you would return the favour. In this way the early Web began to grow in to what we have now.

My first site was about the topic of Virtual Reality (part of it is still available online here). Both VR and the Web arrived in the public mind around the same time, and both were seen by many as the "next big thing". Interestingly, VR - the "sexiest" of the two technologies - stuttered over the next few years and failed to catch on, where as the Web.. Well you know, you are using it.

The early Web was an exciting thing to be part of. The journey from geek to ubiquity was an incredibly fast one and people now find strange to think that there was a time when it didn't exist.

In those early days, together my my colleagues at Loughborough and Derby Universities, I would run "cybercafes" and internet show-and-tell events at night clubs, public events and conferences to show people how the Web worked. For many of these people it was the first time they had seen the technology.

These days there is a similar feeling to the interest surrounding 3D printing. Just like the early Web, I demonstrate it to people who've heard about it but have never seen it. I encourage it's use and try to get people to think about how it will affect their lives. I do wonder though if over the next 20 years it will go the way of the Web, or remain a specialist niche like Virtual Reality.

The next Bring Your Own Beamer event in Leicester will be taking place on Saturday 12th October at The Salon in Highcross, Leicester. This is the second time BYOB has come to Leicester and the first time we will have used this new (temporary) art space in the Highcross shopping centre. As before, the event is free and open to anyone with something to show. There will be workshops during the day - with topics being covered including Quartz Composer and LED lighting.

Pictures from last year's event can be found here. For more information on this year's event see the Facebook event page at https://www.facebook.com/events/549945441725643.

Thomas Dolby came to the Phoenix in Leicester tonight to kick off the UK tour of his film The Invisible Lighthouse. I say 'film', but it was more of a live performance than a typical film showing - with Dolby delivering most of the spoken word and music live from the stage.

The film is centred around the closure of a lighthouse in Suffolk near where Thomas Dolby grew up and has now returned to live with his family. Backed by both documentary and more abstract film sequences, he delivers a narration that reflects on his memories of the lighthouse and the area. On the top of this he adds live music, lighting and the wearing of various hats to produce something quite unique - true live 'multimedia'.

I found it highly absorbing. I liked both the subject of the story and the way it was performed. As a child growing up in Selsey I can remember looking out to the Nab Tower at night and being fascinated by the flashing light (and the booming of the horn in the fog). I realised that this was something I hadn't thought about in years.

As well as performing, Thomas Dolby also filmed most of the video footage himself - sometimes using a camera mounted on a small quadcopter to get aerial shots.

Being the first night of the tour I spotted a few little glitches in the show, but these didn't distract from the performance at all. The film was followed by a Q&A session and then a couple of songs for the fans. The tour continues across the UK and then goes to the US. See thomasdolby.com for details.

See my pictures from the night here on Flickr, and a video of Thomas Dolby performing "Hyperactive" here on YouTube.

I've just received my Flashforge Creator II 3D Printer from the iMakr shop in London. This is a Chinese version of the classic Makerbot Replicator 1 open source 3D printer with a few improvements and a much more attractive price than the original. The machine is going to form part of the equipment available in the soon-to-open Interact Labs workspace at Phoenix in Leicester and I was looking for something that was easy to use, reasonably well-specified and reliable.

So far it's been working well. I've completed over 5 hours of print time with no mistakes and the ReplicatorG software it uses has worked flawlessly. I will report back on it in more detail when I've had a chance to explore it more, but things are looking promising. For now, you can see how it got on printing the mug I designed in Tinkercad a few weeks back in a set of pictures here on Flickr.