Cheatsheet — Specs, Materials & Quick Reference

A dense, single-page reference for the Lethal Injection Attack Droid Prototype. Entries are tagged [D] documented (artist catalogue / museum placard / public record) or [O] observation / inference from this hub’s photographs, per the no-fabrication rule.

Identity

Table 1 — Identity

Field	Value	Tag
Title	Lethal Injection Attack Droid Prototype	[D]
Artist	Christopher Conte (b. Bergen, Norway; based New York)	[D]
Year	2004	[D]
Type	One-of-a-kind cybermechanical / robotic sculpture	[D]
Catalogue page	microbotic.org → Portfolio → “Lethal Injection Attack Droid”	[D]

Physical

Table 2 — Physical

Field	Value	Tag
Dimensions	10.5 × 6.5 × 8 in (26.5 × 16.5 × 20 cm)	[D]
Scale	Tabletop / vitrine; “prototype” bench-model size	[D]
Form	Low twin-tracked base + central control deck + forward-rising manipulator	[O]
Symmetry	Bilaterally symmetric chassis; asymmetric (aiming) arm	[O]

Materials

Table 3 — Materials

Material	Where	Tag
Recycled stainless steel	Frames, fasteners, chain, linkage rods	[D] catalogue / [O] placement
Titanium	Selected structural / linkage members	[D] catalogue
Machined aluminum	Frame plates, brackets, wheel bodies	[D] catalogue
Brass	Knurled thumb-nuts, standoffs, axle hardware (not in catalogue line)	[O] visible
Vintage glass syringe	End effector at arm tip	[D] catalogue

Drive train (Vol 5)

Table 4 — Drive train (Vol 5)

Field	Value	Tag
Locomotion	Two tracked treads (tank-style)	[O]
Track material	Bicycle / roller chain, closed loop per side	[D] chain-as-tread / [O] detail
Running gear	Machined sprockets + sealed ball-bearing road wheels	[O]
Frame	Polished bar side-frames, transverse axles	[O]
Hardware	Knurled brass thumb-nuts / fittings	[O]
Construction	Machined-and-assembled (not cast); salvage + stock	[O]
Did it ever drive?	Not documented — unproven	[O] unknown

Control electronics (Vol 6)

Table 5 — Control electronics (Vol 6)

Field	Value	Tag
Maker	Parallax (silkscreen “PARALLAX Inc”)	[O] visible
Controller class	BASIC Stamp-family module on a Parallax carrier board	[O] high-confidence inference
Exact SKU	Not determinable; consistent with a BS2-class module + carrier (Board of Education / Carrier Board)	[O] inference
Programming	PBASIC over serial, program in onboard EEPROM (BASIC Stamp norm)	[D] for the family
I/O (BS2 family)	16 general-purpose I/O pins	[D] for the family
Power	9 Vdc battery → onboard 5 V regulator (TO-220 + 2 electrolytics)	[O] visible + label
Second board	Smaller stacked daughterboard; most plausibly motor/servo drive	[O] inference
”Programmable robotic sculpture”	Museum placard’s own term	[D]

Manipulator & payload (Vol 7)

Table 6 — Manipulator & payload (Vol 7)

Field	Value	Tag
Arm	Triangulated truss of polished rods, front cantilever	[O]
Joints	Dark anodised clevis-type pivots / rod ends	[O]
End effector	Vintage glass syringe, needle aimed forward	[D] syringe / [O] pose
Gesture	Staged mid-”injection,” advancing the needle	[O]
Powered articulation?	Plausible but not documented	[O] unknown

Concept (Vols 1–2)

Table 7 — Concept (Vols 1–2)

Point	Summary	Tag
Theme	Commentary on the evolution of technology in capital punishment	[D] placard
Central idea	The “seemingly impossible goal of eliminating human involvement” in execution	[D] placard
Title logic	”Lethal Injection” (clinical) + “Attack” (predatory) + “Droid” (autonomous) + “Prototype” (first of a series)	[O] reading
Maker’s irony	A 16-year prosthetist (restores bodies) builds a machine to end one	[D] biography / [O] reading

Timeline & provenance (Vols 1, 3)

Table 8 — Timeline & provenance (Vols 1, 3)

Date	Event	Tag
2004	Piece built	[D]
2007	Conte begins selling work through galleries	[D]
May 2008	Two-person show, Last Rites Gallery (Paul Booth)	[D]
Jun 2008	Conte leaves prosthetics for full-time art	[D]
2008	National Museum of Crime & Punishment opens (Penn Quarter, DC)	[D]
2008–2015	Attack Droid on loan to the museum, capital-punishment gallery	[D]
Sep 2015	Museum closes (lease/sales targets)	[D]
Present	”Courtesy of Christopher Conte”; post-closure location not documented here	[D]/[O]

Sources

Table 9 — Sources

Source	Used for
microbotic.org — “Lethal Injection Attack Droid” catalogue page	Title, year, dimensions, materials, loan status
microbotic.org — “Artist Bio” (About)	Conte biography, method, timeline
Museum placard (this hub’s photographs)	Interpretive statement; “programmable robotic sculpture”
This hub’s photographs of the unit in its vitrine	All mechanism observations (chassis, board, manipulator)
Wikipedia / press — National Museum of Crime & Punishment	Venue history (2008–2015), capital-punishment gallery
Parallax product documentation (BASIC Stamp 2 / Board of Education / Boe-Bot)	2004-era controller background (general, not piece-specific)

One-line summary

A shoebox-sized, programmable tracked robot sculpture (Christopher Conte, 2004), built from recycled stainless steel, titanium, and machined aluminum on bicycle-chain treads, carrying a vintage glass syringe on an articulated arm and a real Parallax BASIC Stamp-class controller — made not to kill but to ask what it would mean to let a machine do the killing.