By Judi McLeod ——Bio and Archives--December 2, 2014
Cover Story | CFP Comments | Reader Friendly | Subscribe | Email Us
"This year, all that tradition plunges into the digital age."The globe-trotting Obamas are decidedly "interactive" and likely won't even be in the White House as their first-ever Digital Christmas unfolds. Downright ditzy digital has got to be Robo-Dog--or a robot skeleton chicken-wire version of Bo Obama. You can't make this stuff up anywhere else but in the White House. They got the idea from the video where Obama and Vice President Joe Biden jogged around the White House to butter up Michelle, but set off the two Obama Portuguese water dogs barking instead. It doesn't get much ditzier than that. "Technology has always been an interest of this administration," said William Bushong, chief historian for the White House Historical Association. "But the digital holiday tweaks are also a homage to the Maker movement, a high-tech, DIY philosophy that President Obama and his aides have embraced enthusiastically. It wraps into a neat package many of the attributes the administration has sought to champion: innovation, manufacturing, entre­pre­neur­ship and hipster geekiness. (Washington Post)
"The two teams worked in their spare time over the past month to create the virtual first dogs. They watched the "Let's Move!" video in which the president and vice president run through the White House as Sunny and Bo whip their heads around to follow them; they pulled up videos of Portuguese water dogs barking to decide whether they should replicate the sound. "They passed on the barking, deciding it would be too loud. "We didn't want to scare children," Santoso said. "In September, the White House appointed Stephanie Santoso, a PhD candidate in information science at Cornell University, as its first full-time senior adviser for "Making." One bonus of that hire is that Santoso knows how to design a dog robot. "So in late November, White House chief floral designer Laura Dowling and a handful of the administration's science policy experts gathered around what could best be described as a robot skeleton, a chicken-wire version of Bo Obama, as the canine robot swiveled its head back and forth about once a second. They seemed pleased with the performance, especially given the White House's previous attempt at a mechanized dog. "We had a 'smoking-tail Bo' last year," Dowling reminded the team. The mechanized dog in the 2013 White House holiday extravaganza had a little mishap: Its ribbon tail got caught in its motor and started to smolder. ("Luckily, that was the end of the season," Dowling noted.) "We've promised you that's not going to happen," replied Mark DeLoura, who serves as senior adviser for digital media in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. This year's Bo-bot was created by Santoso, DeLoura and Laura Gerhardt, an OSTP intern. "The Sunny-bot is the work of two Presidential Innovation fellows, Bosco So and David Naffis. Professional software engineers, So and Naffis are spending the year working at the Energy Department and the National Archives, respectively. "Rather than rotating its head at a set rate, Sunny-bot has eyes with infrared motion sensors that prompt it to turn in the direction of someone approaching it. Both robots use fairly basic software and hardware. Even Sunny-bot, she of the infrared eyes, uses rubber bands as ligaments to give her head flexibility."Infrared eyes following you around the White House is scarier than the sound of barking. Plunging all that tradition into the digital age, includes the National Christmas Tree in President's Park having its very own Twitter handle. Recognizing the difference between virtual and real, some folk much prefer the smell of spruce and pine to a Christmas Tree with its own Twitter handle. And even the small fry, who run outside to catch snowflakes on their tongue tips, know you just never get the real thing at the White House anymore.
Support Canada Free Press
View Comments