Published August 25, 2021 © MIT

Raymond Roussel Reading Machine

Converting an old Rolodex to an experimental literature reading device with Arduino and a continuous rotating servo.

BeginnerFull instructions provided2 hours796

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Arduino Nano R3

360 Continuous servo

DFRobot Gravity:Digital Push Button (Yellow)

Digilent 5V 2.5A Switching Power Supply

Software apps and online services

Arduino IDE

Autodesk Fusion 360

Story

La Machine a lire Roussel was a mechanical device designed in 1954 to read a book named New Impressions of Africa by Raymond Roussel

First machine to read Roussel

Why is a machine required to read a book?

Raymond Roussel was a French writer who exerted a profound influence in Surrealists and Oulipo and New Impressions of Africa was a strange 1, 274-line poem with parenthetical asides that run up to five levels deep.

I think any programmer or mathematics enthusiast could relate to this structure.

New Impressions of Africa structure

Following a tradition – compulsion? – of colliding literature and technology (see also Rayuelomatic, Klausner Machine, Nyctograph Machine, etc) I’ve decided to make a New Roussel Reading machine but using a previous book named… Impressions of Africa (“a carnivalesque travelogue that features the passengers of the Lynceus, a vessel shipwrecked by a hurricane in the fictional land of Ponukele on a journey from Marseilles to Buenos Aires”)

Impressions of Africa

I’ve also decided to replace old machine’s mechanical crank by a continuous servo motor driven by Arduino and fired up by a push button connected to a delay routine using intervals related to Raymond Roussel biography.

For example: Roussel died in 1933, so 1933 is used as one of the delays while passing the cards.

Continuous servo

Parts used

An old Rolodex – not so easy to find a Rolodex in Argentina, BTW
Arduino Nano
Push Button
DC female connector
3 Amp Power Supply
2 x 3d printed side supports
In Design Template to create fragment cards

AdobeIn Design

Cards layout was designed using Adobe In Design

Adobe In Design

What's the point of this machine?

Why making anything no one asked, required or paid? How is it better or at least different to read Impressions of Africa by Raymond Roussel using this machine? Is it an excuse? a tribute? an amusement?

Notes

For sure it is different as it is different to read on a screen than reading on paper. In this case there is also a random factor, an arbitrary fragmentation, sounds and kinetics involved.

Demo of the Second Machine to read Roussel

3d Model Fusion 360

SecondRaymond Roussel Reading Machine

Demo of Second Machine to read Raymond Roussel

Code

Second Roussel Reading Machine

// Roussel Second Reading Machine
// Roni Bandini, Buenos Aires, Aug 2021
// Connections: Servo 1 GND, Servo 2 Vcc, Servo 3, D12
// Button: GND and D11

#include <Servo.h>

Servo myservoBase; 
int pinBase=12;
int pinButton=11;
int randNumber=0;

int stopValue=78;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Serial.print("Starting");  

  randomSeed(analogRead(0));

  pinMode(pinButton, INPUT_PULLUP);

  myservoBase.attach(pinBase);

  myservoBase.write(stopValue);
  
  delay(1000);

}

void loop() {

  int buttonState = digitalRead(pinButton);

  if (buttonState==0){
    
    Serial.print("Button pressed");

    randNumber = random(1,6);
    
    Serial.print("Forward");
    myservoBase.write(120);

    if (randNumber==1){      
      Serial.print("Died in 1933");
      delay(1933);      
    }

    if (randNumber==2){      
      Serial.print("Published Impressions of Africa in 1910");
      delay(1910);      
    }

    if (randNumber==3){      
      Serial.print("Published Locus Solus in 1914");
      delay(1914);      
    }

    if (randNumber==4){      
      Serial.print("1274 line poem in New Impressions of Africa");
      delay(1274);      
    }

    if (randNumber==5){      
      Serial.print("Born 01 1877");
      delay(11877);      
    }
        
    Serial.print("Turn the other side");
    myservoBase.write(40);
    delay(660);

    Serial.print("Stop");
    myservoBase.write(stopValue);
    
  }

  delay(250);
  
  
}

Credits

Roni Bandini

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Machines, books and music.

Raymond Roussel Reading Machine

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Why is a machine required to read a book?

Parts used

What's the point of this machine?

Custom parts and enclosures

Columns

Roussel second reading machine 3d printed parts

Code

Second Roussel Reading Machine

Arduino code

Credits

Roni Bandini

Comments

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Raymond Roussel Reading Machine

Raymond Roussel Reading Machine

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

Why is a machine required to read a book?

Parts used

What's the point of this machine?

Custom parts and enclosures

Columns

Roussel second reading machine 3d printed parts

Code

Second Roussel Reading Machine

Arduino code

Credits

Roni Bandini

Comments

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