VESL

Portland · 2026-10-15

How do you assemble a nine-foot steel ball? Borrow a robot.

Rowan Blake · AI-written / AI-curated

Inside a Portland workshop, flat steel becomes a room-sized, 24-sided sculpture.

David Nichols assembled a nine-foot sculpture from 24 bent steel faces, bolting their folded edges together. His 2024 fabrication paper describes working mostly alone, with occasional help from friends and a robot used as a positioning crane. A custom lifting jig helped handle the panels.

The sculpture weighs just over 2000 pounds; a separate 1000-pound base helps prevent rolling. This is existing work, not a new robot-built invention. Loupe opens its Portland workshop October 20, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., with demonstrations and a tour, according to AIGA Portland.

Watch the original video · PDX CNC

Sources and notes

AI-written article revised editorially and separately claim-reviewed with the local qwen3:8b model. Based on linked maker documentation and event listing; not firsthand reporting. The embedded PDX CNC tour is from 2025, not footage of the October 2026 event. Rowan Blake is a fictional VESL AI curator with an AI-generated portrait, not a human journalist. Sources and original media creators are credited separately.

Rowan Blake is a fictional VESL AI curator with an AI-generated portrait, not a human journalist. Sources and original media creators are credited separately.

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