Community

Jason and I met at Espresso Royale this afternoon to discuss form, function, and budget for our final project. We reflected on Thursday's in-class critique, and quickly drew inspiration from the suggested constraints.  This post is about what we developed.

In class on Thursday, we presented an array of LFSTs that could be controlled remotely with a potentiometer from anywhere in the room.  The general critiques, according to my interpretation, were as follows:

1. The motion of the device cannot be seen from afar.
2. The sound that they make is like the chattering of small critters, and the class loved it.
3. The interior components should be exposed.  The complexity could be beautiful.
4. The value of our project is that we've created a platform for communication and motion that could be applied to a variety of tasks.  Currently, it is not obvious that this is what we've made unless we explain it.

So, why don't we play up the communication and motion, and let the task just be entertainment and curiosity?  We could do this by building 10 clusters.  Each cluster would be a community made of 5 distinct individuals.  Each individual would share the same base form, but each would have a different head that was designed around its function.  For example, the individual that tracks light would look different than the individual that senses movement.  One individual in each community is capable of talking with all other communities/clusters.  The rest of the individuals can only talk with others in their community.

Here are the five players:

And here is a diagram of what they could look like on the wall.  Each color corresponds to a different type.

Since we've decided that the base would be made from a combination of acrylic and MDF, we can use a small multi-color LED in each that lights up when it is playing an active role.  For example, if the motion sensor in one community is activated by the environment, its base lights up.  Then, the communicator talks to all other communities, telling them to let their motion sensor be in charge.  Hence, all motion sensor's bases light up.

This concept seems to answer quite a few of the challenges we've encountered thus far.  Form challenges are answered by giving a distinct function to each individual.  The form should be simple and based on the sensors required to make it operate.  Visualization of conversations between individuals starts to happen as the same individual in each community lights up.

Lastly, this allows us to not spend all of our money in one place.  We only need 10 RF receivers and transmitters, 10 motion sensors, 10 sets of 3 photoresistors, 10 sound sensors (microphones?), etc.  as opposed to 50 of each sensor.  This gives us the opportunity to show how these can be used for a variety of applications.

Most interestingly, this concept is about creating a community of specialized organisms, capable of complex behavior based on a simple, modular design.

Design an Experience

I am a Student Coordinator for UArts101 - Creative Process and Collaboration.  My job is to facilitate class discussion, provide support to professors, grade student assignments, and act as a mentor to students on class projects.  The focus of the class is to get the students to understand their own creative process and teach them strategies to help control it.  This class is interesting, because it could be educational and relevant to people with all levels of experience in creative work.

Yesterday, we asked the students to start thinking about what it means to create a "Designed Experience".  Since I wasn't really sure myself, I developed my own definition.

Conception is the ability to form or understand mental concepts and abstraction.  It is something conceived in the mind.
Perception is awareness or consciousness - the process by which an organism detects and interprets information from the external world by means of the sensory receptors.

I believe that a Designed Experience needs to have both.  And it gets better as the conceptual and perceptual content is enhanced.

In connection to SmartSurfaces, we are designing an experience.  The perception is well on its way.  What about the conception?  maybe.

Form. Array. Color. Fun.

Tube Worms - the distant cousin of the LFST

This week, Joyce and I have tasked ourselves with reworking the form of the LFST.  Along the way, we have allowed ourselves to let go of the movement requirements and focus more on the potential for interaction.  We drew most of our inspiration from tube worms.  They exhibit a "shy" behavior, similar to that which we found so intriguing about our previous project.  What if we created a landscape of these mechanisms that moved in response to their environment, people, and each other?  What if they were shy at first, and what if, over time, you could get them to like you?  What if all of our technology had a personality?  What if my computer wasn't in the mood to work right now, and insisted on sleeping?

Autonomy

Need a SmartSurface be autonomous?  I'm starting to think not.

According to Wikipedia, an "autonomous" robot is one which "can perform desired tasks in unstructured environments without continuous human guidance."  Often, autonomy is talked about in fractions:  Robots can be partially, or fully autonomous.

But what about a robot/SmartSurface that requires human interaction in order to operate?  What if the surface is about human interaction, and therefore, even though it can perform interesting tasks, it can only perform those tasks if the human is there?  Maybe the human doesn't have to be controlling it directly, but they are still giving input to the system.

On a different note:
A tubeworm variety (feather duster) coming out of its tube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xWs9_4kioA

Growing Toward Sunlight

 Our interim report for the solar tracking device proved unsuccessful.  After showing a computer code that can triangulate to find the location of a light source and a set of renderings of spine-like devices that could theoretically bend to follow sunlight, the professors and audience seemed oddly unimpressed.

Back to the drawing boards.  I feel that our group was on to something with all of this, but we didn't execute it in a way that communicated solar-tracking, biomimetic, 2-axis motion, smart surface.  This week, I think our group will focus solely on this spinal column, that will grow and bend toward the light.

Here are some sources of inspiration:
Snow Buttercup
Heliotropic Sun-tracking System

Added constraints that our group would like to address:
Compactness - can we make this device flatten down and contain itself for transport?
Deployability - can we make this device deploy easily?  Will the user need to orient it in any particular way?

Solar Triangulation

Project 1: Iterative Process

Project 1 was an iterative process for our group.  We started with a given set of criteria, and we used those criteria to generate a variety of forms.  As we developed forms, they started to take on different functions.  Once we settled on a desired function (our highest value problem), we then continued to iterate on the form until we reached a final design.

Criteria:
Shapes cover curved surfaces efficiently
Exposes
Smart Surface

Here are a couple forms developed along the way:

The Urban Greenhouse

This is the our group's end result of project 1.

It is a 1:6 scale model of an urban greenhouse.  The idea was to address issues around existing food infrastructure.  We wanted to suggest a method for the urban dweller to grow their own food with minimal impact on their lifestyle.  The greenhouse mounts outside of an apartment window, and it offers a temperature and moisture regulated environment for plants to grow.  The owner should only have to harvest the food that they grow.

In order to regulate the environment, this greenhouse would have built in sensors that measure temperature and humidity.  The sensors are connected to a motor, which would open and close the windows.  The windows can be used to ventilate and cool down the environment if it gets too hot, and also to collect rainwater when it gets too dry.

In its final form, our model responded to changes in heat.  In order to demonstrate this, Alex put his finger (a source of heat) over the heat sensor.  Once the sensor reached a certain temperature, the windows opened.  After removing his finger and allowing the sensor to cool down, the windows closed.

Groupwork

Our team learned a lot about each other today.  I was even able to learn a bit about myself.  It was brought to my attention that, up until now, many team members felt as if they were executing my projects, as opposed to working on a collaborative project.  Over the past couple of weeks, our team has designed and brought many ideas to the table, and my idea was generally the one that moved on when we had to pick one for presentation.  The system we had set up left very little room for collaboration, because, by the time we chose an idea it was too late to make big changes.  On top of that, I would fight endlessly for my idea, leaving other group members feeling as if they were in an endless argument.

Today, we managed to actually make a team compromise.  We kept the same primary functions, but agreed to a new form that served those functions better.  We each started to acknowledge our own skills as teammates:  Jason and I took the lead in redesigning the functioning mechanisms.  Chris and Bethany worked through the Arduino code.  Alex brought forward the new form design and rhino file for making the parts.

Starting tomorrow, I'll be posting images of the prototype building process.

Urban Gardens - exploring new spaces

Working in a team is inspiring.  Today, I started sketching and ideating an hour before our small group meeting.  I got really down on our concept, since I felt there was nothing "smart" about the surface(s) we were designing.  My teammates' definitions for "smart" were much more open for interpretation.  They were quick to stop me for dismissing an idea far before it was worth dismissing.

We made good progress today, developing ideas and forms for miniature greenhouses.  Alex suggested that we find unexpected/unused spaces in cities to place them.  We started with outside an apartment window.  Then, we moved to rooftops, sidewalks, and even to stringing them between buildings.  Imagine the spectacle of tiny polygonal globes suspended like lights throughout the city.

And what about in the winter?  We played with insulation, sunlight, ventilation, and protection from the elements.  We considered how nesting similar forms could solve these problems.  Below is a drawing of an icosahedron, and what it would look like mounted to the outside of a building.

First week, First critique

Our first week of SmartSurfaces is complete, and the second week is already well-underway.  Our team is excitedly moving forward with a positive, helpful critique and workshop under our belts.

The critique was really more a series of suggestions and possibilities for what our project could become.  Some of the key points that came out during the critique were:

1. Consider using natural material properties to operate otherwise mechanically-complex mechanisms.  How could scale have an impact on this?  For example, a much smaller version of this project could curl up by placing a droplet of water on it.

2. Maybe the form doesn't need to close entirely into a spheroid.  Consider alternating the direction of the folding/buckling to create a more open environment.  Create an undulating surface as opposed to a closed-off sphere.

3. How can we make it simpler?  Currently the cable system is complex, finicky, and potentially expensive to build (there is a lot of stress built up in the cable tracks).  Can we achieve the same motion with less material and simpler mechanisms?

4. The project is "fascinating" so far.  I think that Karl meant that he felt we were on to something with playing with polyhedra, their nets, and the themes of "collection".

Our reverse-brainstorming session helped our group realize that we are all interested in the implementation of vegetative life in urban environments.  So, we are now applying this form to urban environments, and considering how we could make a "smart" urban garden.  How could the urban garden observe and respond to its environment?  What could be exposed?  What curves should we create or cover with shapes?

A note on groupwork and team efficiency:  Last week we stayed up way too late way too many nights.  Most of that time was spent building the mechanical system that failed anyways.  Yet, our project was still well-received.  I think we should reevaluate how we spend our time.  Also, I think we need to be more honest to ourselves about what is plausible with the materials we are given.  This week, we are separating into two subgroups for the first couple days.  This way we can come together with some models and at least two fleshed-out potential projects.  Then, we can choose one and spend the remaining 75% of our time bringing it to reality.

Polyhedra and Scales

Today our group moved forward to explore our fascination with Polyhedra and Scales - shapes that can cover curved surfaces efficiently.  Here is Jason playing with a variety of forms.

We are mostly interested in the flexibility of these shapes.  How can we fold them, twist them, or turn them inside out?  How can these motions expose something or expose part of the shape itself?  Take the Pentagonal Hexecontahedron, for example.  Here is the net of the form, laser-cut and partially-assembled.

And here is a drawing of what I could imagine exposing.  Consider the thickness of the material, layer it up, apply a bevel so it can fold into its complete form.  Then, turn it inside-out, exposing the seams.

We also continued to explore the application of segments of these polyhedra.  Here, Chris shows how a group of five pentagons can articulate.

Unfortunately, the inspiration and excitement from finding forms that satisfy our criteria is starting to wear off, as we desperately search for a world-changing application.  This methodology seems backwards to me.  We've found something fascinating that seems to have great potential, and now we are searching for a problem that it, or some derivation of it, can solve.

The Pangolin

I named this blog after the pangolin because I find this creature fascinating and adorable.

A pangolin is a nocturnal mammal that, in a non-scientific sense, is an anteater with scales.  By "non-scientific" I mean that the pangolin is not closely-related to the anteater.  The similarity in behavior, diet, and physical features is most likely due to convergent evolution.

The pangolin is a well-equipped animal.  Its scales are razor sharp and hard, allowing it to either lash out at predators or curl up into an impenetrable ball.  It secretes a foul-smelling fluid, which works to ward off predators, and also to mark a trail to return to its burrow.  When feeding, the pangolin uses its powerful forearms and sharp claws to open termite mounds, then a long tongue to collect the insects.  Interestingly, the claws are so large that the animal is forced to walk on its fists.  When it is in a hurry, it can stand up and run on its hind legs, using its tail for balance.

Here are some more informative pages on the pangolin:
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/eutheria/pholidota.html
http://www.pangolin.com/PangolinPic.html
http://www.theanimalfiles.com/mammals/pangolins/ground_pangolin.html
http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/mammals/pholidota/manis_temminckii.htm

and a good video of pangolin movement and behavior:
http://www.arkive.org/ground-pangolin/smutsia-temminckii/video-00.html

The scales of a pangolin offer an interesting way to look at how shapes can cover curved surfaces.  The animal is very flexible despite its tough armor, allowing it to move, dig, climb, and defend itself.  How can a similar scale structure be used to create shelters that are flexible, modular, and durable?

SmartSurfaces, Biomimetics, and Pandora

Hi, and welcome to my first blog experience.  This blog comes as a class requirement for SmartSurfaces.  It is a transdisciplinary, hands-on, think-tank of artists, designers, architects, and material scientists from the University of Michigan.

A "Smart Surface" is a boundary object that can observe, interpret, and respond to the environments that it separates.  Biomimetics is the design application of systems and processes found in nature.  Pandora is the first woman in Greek mythology.  The gods gave her many gifts, including the famous "Pandora's box".  The contents were mysterious.  Hope was inside.

What if Pandora's box was simply a reference to Earth itself?