the world of ollie palmer

Here’s the presentation I gave in Copenhagen last week regarding my Physical Virus project. The project is an architectural conversation about invasive species; the first step is to create a ballet performance using ants, using a series of modified printers to print pheromones and influence ant behaviour. This presentation shows briefly the main stages involved in the execution of the project, a few influences, and some videos pilfered from various places.

You can also see the first batch of ants on flickr here.

As part of another project (as-yet-unblogged), I’ve been looking at RFID tags – and more specifically, how they can be used within robotic and entomological systems. The wasp below is sporting an RFID tag that costs €3 as part of a study of wasp movements (image credits: ZSL – for more on that, click here…). RFID is becoming an everyday commodity…

One of the most commonly accepted RFID systems in operation is the Oyster card. I put mine into a glass full of nail varnish in order to remove the chip inside.

After a few hours, the adhesive holding the components together was degraded to such an extent that the whole thing was a floppy mess, ready to be peeled apart.



This is version 2.6 of the Oyster card – previous versions contained copper wire, but this one uses conductive ink as the arial. The flexible centre is now ready for embedding into anything – e.g. a jacket sleeve – ready for use. The pencil points towards the “ID” part, which contains the chip’s all-important frequency.

I am currently in the research phase for a new project in Unit 14. Whilst I’m not in a position to show off any fancy drawings, diagrams or bits of circuitry yet, I thought perhaps a list of the influences that are working their way into this subject might give a preview of where it may go…

The following statement is true.
The previous sentence is false.

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