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.