Unicorn Supercomputer
Well, what do I have to say about the Unicorn Supercomputer? It started in 2019 when I decided I was going to go to Burning Man for the first time. And doing my research, as I normally do (eventually you can find more of that distilled research on my Burning Man page), I found that I needed something that would keep me safe from the sun during the day and really light up and show the types of LED art that I wanted to show at night. It wasn’t a vision that was formed from the beginning, but came most out of the fear of unknown constraints about playa dust and horror stories about solder connections getting corroded out there. Not really knowing any other Burners at the time, I had nothing to go by but the scant information from other Burners’ websites.
But out of it came the Unicorn Supercomputer. Essentially it’s a e-trike (please, 5 mph!) with a sunshade and giant battery powering music reactive LEDs wherever I pulled up.
I have created two iterations of the bike, one for 2019 and one for 2023. Different trike bases were used, and the software and lighting were nearly all different as well. In 2023, I wanted to remake it to be self-driving (yes, more on the specifics of that soon) but I broke a critical piece quite soon before we needed to leave, and needed to scrap the entire thing (I had auto steering and braking all working however!). Additionally in 2023, it rained and much of the wood-based parts of the bike are no longer tenable, so when I head back (hopefully in 2026), there will once again be another iteration of the Unicorn Supercomputer.
One of the things that I fell in love with but never anticipated was the joy this project sparked for so many when riding around Black Rock City. It was so practical for me, such a deep self expression, that I had forgotten that perhaps people would even like it. I’ve met so many awesome people by chatting about how I made this and it’s driven such a love of making art for 10-principle spaces. (So thank you if you’ve told me you liked it out there!)
I didn’t do a great job through the years of writing down my documentation of building these bikes, but hope to do so here in the future. For now, let this be a visual log (much of which is pulled from my two Instagram accounts @unicorn.supercomputer and @whatcolorwasit).
Unicorn Supercomputer 2019
March 9, 2019: Falling back on some analog methods of planning have made it much easier to finish the details. Realized that perhaps some of this recent “design block” was simply not knowing the software design tools enough to accomplish what I need. So I’m just gonna go do it! Planning’s done whether it is or isn’t at this point. We need to make this bike! (It’s going to be way too big. On purpose!) #burningmanbike
Unicorn Supercomputer 2023
