Every spring, Baltimore does something wonderful and slightly ridiculous. The American Visionary Art Museum sends a parade of homemade, people-powered art machines on a full-day race through the city: about 15 miles of streets, cobblestones and hills, then straight down a boat ramp into the harbour, then through a sand pit in Patterson Park, and back to the museum.
It's called the Kinetic Sculpture Race. Nothing is allowed a motor to move it. Every mile is legs.
On May 1, 2027, we're entering a crab.
How it started#
It started at this year's Halloween parade in Canton. I was there with Suchi, Maria and Jimmy, watching the floats go by, and Maria said she'd love to be in a parade like this one day.
That stuck with me. I started thinking about other parades with floats we could enter.
A little about me: I'm a software engineer with over 20 years of experience, and these days I use a lot of AI in my daily work. So my very next thought was: this would be a really cool project to build with AI.
Funny thing: I wasn't thinking about the kinetic race at all. That only came up the next day, when I sat down with Claude (an AI assistant) to list the parades in Maryland. The AVAM race popped up. I'd been to it a few times and always loved it.
So I had Claude dig into the race: the rules, the course, the awards, what goes wrong for teams. And I thought: THIS IS IT. It's a project where I could use everything I know about AI and engineering, and a way to bring in our whole group of friends and family.
A day, and a lot of conversations with Claude, later, the idea was born. There was a plan, a race date on the calendar, and a name: SOOK.
Why on earth would we do this?#
Honestly? Three reasons.
- It's fun. A giant crab that swims. I don't think it needs more explaining than that.
- It's a real engineering puzzle. She has to roll 15 miles on pedal power, float, paddle across the harbour, climb back out up a wet ramp, and get through sand. Each of those wants a different machine. Making one machine do all of them is the kind of problem I love.
- It's something to build together. I wanted a project I could do with my daughter and our friends' kids. Not a kit, not a screen: a real thing with real tools, paint everywhere, and a race day at the end of it.
The ground rules we set#
We decided a few things early, and they still hold:
- No money from families. Sponsors cover the build, so anyone can join for free.
- Nobody has to commit. Jimmy (our chief builder) and I do most of the work on weekends. Everyone else drops in when they like: one Saturday, the paint party, or just race day.
- Safety first, especially with kids around. The shop has a hot zone for grown-ups and a kid zone for painting and gluing.
- Build her in tiers. First she has to finish the race. Then she gets her show. The wild extras come last, only if there's time.
Maria, the one who started all this, is our art lead. Fair's fair.
What's next#
In the next episode: why a crab, why this crab, and what "sook" actually means. (Hint: ask anyone who grew up picking crabs on newspaper.)
Thanks for following along from the very start.
Josh
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