The Floating World: In the Beginning

2002

In 2002, the DiscoFish swam the Playa for the first time. The theme was “The Floating World” and we floated right through creating many memories for the early innovators.

Evolve and Grow

Like most mutant vehicles, DiscoFish was created for everyone as a gift to the Burning Man community. As long as there was room, people were welcome on board. But in order to enhance the experience for others, DiscoFish needed to evolve and grow.

Rites of passage: Discofish 2.0 Debut

2011

Empowered by radical self-expression and communal participation, DiscoFish continued to mutate. By 2011, DiscoFish had evolved into a giant anglerfish mutant vehicle with glowing iridescent scales, flamethrower, and a giant sparkling disco ball.

DiscoFish Continued to Evolve

Over the next 5 years the team adds adds the caboose, dorsal fins, etc. We even added laser radar (LIDAR) to make the DiscoFish autonomous.

Radical Ritual: An Evolutionary Leap

2017

For years DiscoFish swam the Playa changing lives and creating many memories. In 2017, she took her final voyage. Though we’re sad to let DiscoFish go, part of the experience of Burning Man is doing something better and different than before. This is why we build. We build to touch lives. We build to create stories worth telling. We build because we find joy in creating joy for others.

The Rise of the TechnoGecko

2017 Fall

After the 2017 burn and after much debate, we decided on the new vision to build something even more ridiculous that has never been done before. Six fully-electric mutant vehicles will drive down city streets in single file then merge like Voltron to form the TechnoGecko on the Playa.

An iRobot Mutation Underway

2018

In early 2018 the DiscoFish dismantle and the TechnoGecko build began. The goal was to sprint to get the basics done in the first of six modules. What’s minimum on playa? PLAM (Power, Lights, Audio, Movement). Due to time, the DiscoFish caboose was reused and connected to the motor-less TechnoGecko main module that the team fabricated from the ground up. Yes, it was all electric on playa! The face and eye were built at the end and left as skeletons. The playa proved challenging that year, as would be expected with a new design - gears broke, chains came apart, and many things had to be rebuilt on playa with out of the box methods thanks to a dedicated and agile crew. But, the beast undergoing a major metamorphosis was finally mobile (PLAM successful) and granted a day and night Mutant Vehicle pass midweek after which bait shifts and dance parties commenced!

Goodbye, Old Friend

In early 2019 the group said goodbye to the base of DiscoFish as it entered into its own metamorphosis. The chassis was sold to the Doge Car group which mutated it into a huge dog, giving it a new life and new home on playa.

A Year of Metamorphosis

2019

The 2019 Burning Man theme was announced and the team was excited, it was metamorphosis — exactly what we were doing. Turning what we had during phase one of TechnoGecko at BM2019 into what our vision of the TechnoGecko should be was what commenced over the next years. Goals were set early - the team wanted to complete the dance floor (the second module) and focus on visual impact. They came together to tackle a lot of upgrades, builds, some rebuilds, design, and construction of moving gecko eyes, a gecko face, cool feet and toes, upgraded sound system, dance poles, a well mounted sign, and basic LIDAR incorporation. Below is what we walked away with. The team was very happy, it was a great burn.

Renegade Upgrades

2021

During the pandemic of 2020, we met virtually for over a year doing as much remote work as possible. Our Canadian team worked tirelessly to upgrade motor controllers and perfect a few key pieces of tech. People came in one at a time to the Bay location for small, single person projects. It was a socially distanced journey for the Gecko. New upgrade projects were created that could be done alone including projector integration and software development for the Gecko dancefloor flap. As the world started to open, we began to get together in small groups that slowly grew into larger groups.

In 2021, after a year hiatus, we decided to embark on two adventures as a camp - Juplaya in July and Renegade Man in August both taking place at Black Rock City. With a small committed crew, we brought specific sections of the Gecko (since full multi-module Gecko car assembly takes a village) and tested out new features. We used the adventures as places to prepare, test, and plan future development for what would hopefully be the next formal Burning Man in 2022.

Our wheel system, controllers, and new dancefloor sign mount were a success. Sharing Gecko joy with people again warmed our soul. We were renewed. We took that momentum to connect, inspire, and grow our team.

2022 - Waking Dreams

With inclusion in 2022 unSCruz we set a new deadline and further tweaked our designs. There we debuted the reactive interface for the Geckoflap, more lighting upgrades which can be seen in the splines, and tweaking tech under the hood.

During the 2022 Burning Man we embarked on goals of getting the Gecko playa ready. We did our annual pre-playa party where we ran through Gecko setup and felt prepped and pumped! When we arrived on playa with the Gecko ready for assembly we had only minor hiccups and were ready by the time the DMV opened. Despite nearly getting stuck in a sand trap on our way to the Department of Mutant Vehicles, we successfully got the Gecko licensed for day and night in record time. We beat any of our previous licensing records from any previous burn by either the Gecko or DiscoFish. The Burn started out on the right sticky-foot!

We took the Gecko out the first Sunday and had amazing energy and music the whole night. We had a great musical lineup all week, scheduled playa food gifting from the Gecko, BAIT tours, and art tours setup. In the middle of the week the Gecko partied so hard it even passed out on playa!

As is always true, we had a few technical difficulties that will inspire another round of engineering upgrades and redundancy planning but — that’s part of the fun. We’re dreamers, builders, and enjoy problem solving.

We met awesome people, gave out lots of free drinks, stickers, hugs, magical times, sunrises, and Keggy the Beer robot even went out for a whirl!

We even saw an art exhibit on playa paying homage to the beloved DiscoFish! Things really came full circle!

Techno Gecko Mission

Our mission with TechnoGecko is to empower others, to support diversity and art, to encourage love and passion, and to inspire innovation and self-expression. We have the tools, skills, confidence, and community to convert this vision, this dream, into reality. But it will require a lot of resources in order to pull together a mutant vehicle of this magnitude. It will take a lot of time, it will take a lot of commitment, and it will take a lot of money.

Burning Man is about communal participation. Whether you’re participating in the build, donating money, or simply spreading our vision, we appreciate your support and welcome you to our community.

Techno Gecko loves you, and we can’t wait to give you a dusty hug on the Playa.