Real-time visualization of Gulf of Maine ocean conditions using whimsical custom-built hardware.

An elaborate system of microcontrollers, 3d-printed rod-and-pinion mechanisms, motors, and a top-down projector make up this massive, loud, whimsical physical-to-digital-to-physical data viz experiment. Using real-time data scraped from Maine’s “data buoys” that relay ocean conditions (wave height, wave period, surface temperature, etc.) to monitoring stations, we created this undulating installation that acts as a hyper-exaggerated miniature model of the Gulf of Maine.