I design and build the mechanisms, electronics, and sound behind interactive installations and animated pieces. A former journeyman steamfitter-welder and foreman, I combine metal fabrication, microcontroller and show-control programming, and audio design in a single build, from a 40-foot programmable robot and a robotic shadow-puppet play at the Detroit Institute of Arts to interactive installations for Bedrock and for a Rolling Stones / NASCAR collaboration.
What I do
Mechanisms and kinetics: electromechanical design, animatronics, and robotic instruments.
Control and show control: Teensy, Arduino, and Raspberry Pi systems; state machines; DMX and programmable LED pixel lighting; sensor networks; safety interlocks and fallback modes.
Sound: composition, spatial audio, audio networking (Dante Level 1 certified), and sound-reactive behavior.
Fabrication: metal and wood, CNC, and rapid prototyping, backed by 17 years as a journeyman steamfitter, welder, and foreman, and work as an electrician.
I work as a subcontractor to agencies, fabrication shops, and studios that need the hardware, firmware, and sound handled by one person.
Selected Work
Foreign Tongues (2026)
With Display Group, Detroit. Interactive installation for the Rolling Stones / NASCAR collaboration. Lead engineer: designed and built the control hardware, firmware, and software integration.
Streetscape (2025)
With Display Group, for Bedrock, Detroit. Interactive audio for a public sculpture. Designed the sensor and audio network and composed the audio.
Crickets on Semantra (2026)
Electromechanical sound art installation presented at the 3.1.3. Spatial Audio Festival.
Old Man Winter (2015)
A forty-foot-tall robot with programmable movement, light displays and sound, at the College for Creative Studies for Noel Night, Detroit. Programmed the motor controls and lights.
Shadows of Slendrotron: The Monkey God’s Great Leap (2017)
Robotic shadow puppet play for Electricity 2017 at the Detroit Institute of Arts, with Apetechnology. Built and programmed the animatronics, integrated the control system, fabricated fixtures, composed the soundtrack, and served as Technical Director.
Vision in a Cornfield (2012)
Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. Mechanical animation of four salvaged automobiles, with control software and audience triggering through optical sensors.
Get in touch
leith00000@gmail.com
Full CV
