Robotic Ecologies Update

Where we are now and where we are headed 2008-09...

During the Fall/Spring 2008-09 we will be at the
University of Michigan TCAUP (link). Jason Johnson will be serving as the Oberdick Research Fellow, and Nataly Gattegno will be the Muschenheim Fellow. During the Summer of 2009 we will serve as the 2008-09 New York Prize Fellows at the Van Alen Institute in New York (link) working on our Aurora interactive installation.

* All 2008/09 updates will be published here: FUTURE CITIES LAB . NET

2008 Digitalis Robot

The 2008 Digitalis Robot was produced by architecture Prof. Jason Johnson and music Prof. Matthew Burtner with assistance from Joy Wang, Megan Manion and Troy Rogers -- plus the Interactive Media Research Group [IMRG] and ITC at UVa. [more info, images and video coming soon.] On April 4th, 2008 our robot responded to real-time information from over 300 wireless laptops at the UVa amphitheater ... a world record perhaps?? check back soon to find out ....

Robotic Ecologies Sp-2008 Process Video

Robotic Ecologies 2008 Opening

Text from an article published in the Daily Progress: May 5, 2008 (By Jeremy Borden)

Inch a little closer and the robot will come toward you, too. Then it might even have something to say.
University of Virginia students on Sunday displayed moving, blinking, music-making robots, a culmination of a course that produced non-humanoid automata that filled gallery space at the School of Architecture. Some there suggested that the interdisciplinary approach in the “Robotic Ecologies 2008” class provides a window into the future.
Architecture, music, engineering and computer science students collaborated in small groups to create what they called “sonic spatial” instruments. For example, one of the instruments, called “Medusa,” would create drum-like sounds after its long tentacles were flicked. One tentacle would activate another tentacle nearby, and flashing lights corresponded as drum-like beats reverberated throughout. Other robots relied on motion and infrared sensors, and would respond with notes to touch or even proximity.
Jason Johnson, the UVa architecture professor who headed the class of 15 that produced the three robots in just a semester of work, said he wanted to combine students from seemingly disparate fields of study “and see what [happened].”
“The critical part was to get these guys to talk,” Johnson said. What emerged, he said, provides a window into a future that combines disciplines and makes the virtual a reality.
One such “cultural artifact” is Apple’s iPhone, he said. The phone, Johnson said, combines audio, visual and sensory items in a “beautiful object.” Two engineers sitting down to solve a problem wouldn’t have come up with it, Johnson said.
Students said the robots are more than just physical things that respond to simple computer programs. Yuri Spitsyn, a doctoral candidate in music, said the robots provide a new look at the idea of our surroundings. Though the students’ robots are just small prototypes, similar designs could be produced on a much larger scale to create a more immersive experience.
“For me, it’s more like an environment,” Spitsyn said.
Cammy Brothers, a UVa professor who teaches renaissance architecture, was impressed with how the disciplines gelled.
“It’s stretching each of the disciplines,” Brothers said. “They occupy this new category of object that’s between architecture and instrument. The point is that architecture now is barely engaging movement or robotics. The idea of sensitivity … responsiveness and robotics has a lot of potential.”

[Correction Note from Jason: Unfortunately this article does not mention that the seminar was co-taught with Prof. Matthew Burtner and we were assisted greatly by our T.A. Troy Rogers from the VCCM.]

Link to the Article: "Music of the Machines: Students Display Harmonic Robots"

2008 R-Eco Project Descriptions

Click on the image to enlarge the project descriptions for the EXSO, Medusa, Panta Rhei and RAVE projects.

Digitalis Festival 2008

The Digitalis Festival is tonight (4/30) from 8-10pm at the UVa Amphitheater. Come see our interactive robotic maestro channel an orchestra of over 500 wireless laptops. Shape changing LED auroras will spotlight participants as they produce an emergent sonic spatial environment. Our phototropic beacon features the world's first photovoltaic mohawk that searches out sunlight during the day and then playfully transmits pulses of light and sound at night.

The Digitalis Festival is a joint production of the Virginia Center for Computer Music (VCCM), UVa's Interactive Media Research Group (IMRG) and UVa's ITC. Interactive Maestro by Prof. Jason Johnson, Prof. Matthew Burtner in collaboration with the VCCM, IMRG, UVa School of Architecture, Future Cities Lab LLC, the Robotic Ecologies Lab and the MICE Project. Project assistance by Joy Wang, Megan Manion and Troy Rogers.

Deux Ex Machina 1

We are now working day and night to complete our latest three robotic prototypes for the deadline next week. The students have been pushing hard to refine and integrate their ideas into fully functioning interactive sonic-spatial assemblies. The date and time of our opening show will be announced soon. My "Deux Ex Machina" (in collaboration with Matthew Burtner and the IMRG - Interactive Media Research Group) will be released at this year's "Digitalis Festival" on April 30th. The robot will be directing (or be directed by?) a symphonic scale (200+) laptop LAN MICE orchestra . There will be a live webcast provided by UVa's ITC. Check back for details. On May 20th I will also be presenting the project at the New Horizons Conference. The keynote speaker will be Ben Fry (co-author of the amazing Processing programming environment.)

Bill Fontana Workshop 2008

We are thrilled to be working with internationally renowned sound artist Bill Fontana this week in the Robotic Ecologies seminar. He will be working with the students on their projects on Thursday (3/27/08) and then giving the Dean's Forum public lecture "Acoustic Simultaneity and the Sculpture of Sound" at 5pm on Friday in the School of Architecture. Fontana has worked on major sound installations including the Harmonic Bridge (in association the Tate Modern London 2006), Pigeon Soundings (at the Kolumbia Museum in Cologne 2007) and his Panoramic Echoes project (New York 2007). A short clip from Fontana's artist statement: "From the late 90”s until the present my projects have explored hybrid listening technologies of acoustic microphones, underwater sensors (hydrophones) and structural/material sensors (accelerometers). I have also realized and am developing projects that access live seismic networks to explore the sound energy of ocean waves, traveling long distances underground." Also check out Peter Traub's interview with Bill Fontana.

Emergent Effects Workshop 2008

The Robotic Ecologies Emergent Effects Workshop 2008 is running during the next two weeks from Jan 30 to Feb 13, 2008. The group will be meeting Wednesday nights from 7:00 - 10:00pm Campbell Hall Exhibition Room C. We will be hosting a series of electronics sessions including an intro to solar driven robotics led by Troy Rogers on Feb 6. Final prototypes will be presented on Feb 13.

From the workshop handout: Emergent behaviors are rendered visible when a small number of self-organizing agents interact in simple ways to produce complex patterns or effects. A familiar example is the collective swarming behavior of starlings: individual birds, with no top-down directive, follow simple rules to form extraordinary shape changing patterns in the sky. Many other dynamic processes in the material world, from bees to flowing metals to entire cities, can be explained using emergence theory.

The aim of the workshop is to invent and build small-scale machines that are capable of generating and registering these emergent effects. During this process we will be developing and situating small performative machines capable of generating, interacting and registering their own emergent patterns over time. Unlike typically linear processes of cause and effect, you will propagate wild forms of expression – dynamic marks, traces, notations and the like – that will emerge from the interplay of these synthetic modes, materials, and mediums with their environment.

An exotic host of base materials, electronics and mechanisms will be provided. If necessary, during the week you should also pillage the likes of the second-hand shops, toy stores, hardware stores, the recycling bins, the garbage, etc. There is no need to expend lavish amounts of capital – be inventive!

Pictured Above: A photograph of an sound-material experiment by Hans Jenny - Spores of moss (lycopodium) form emergent clusters that rotate around their own axis, while the larger collection of clusters rotates around the central axis of the plate.

Robotic Ecologies Seminar and Workshop 2008

The 2008 "Robotic Ecologies" spring seminar and workshop kicked off last night. This semester 12 students from architecture and engineering will be collaborating with 6 PhD. students from UVa’s Virginia Center for Computer Music (VCCM). The seminar will meet jointly with Professor Matthew Burtner's seminar "Emergent Interactive Structures in Music". The students will be collaborating on the design and fabrication of "performative spatial and acoustic instruments that sense, compute and interact to/with emergent atmospheric inputs." This semester the seminar will meet in Campbell Hall's super high-tech IATH Viz Lab (Ex. C) and workshops will take place in the our new dedicated space within the CNC Fabrication Lab.

PICTURED ABOVE > Last night, after some brief introductions, the seminar attended a fascinating performance by the Autonomous String Performing Instrument at The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative in Belmont. The A.S.P.I. was created by Troy Rogers, Scott Barton and Steven Kemper. Thanks also to Peter Traub for introducing us to his ItSpace sound and social networking installation.
Photo Above: The creators of the A.S.P.I. bot > Scott Barton (left), Troy Rogers (right), and Steven Kemper (not shown) - photo by M.Maki.

Visions of the Future (or just sexy versions of the recent past?)

The top four images are some well-known utopian/dystopian visions for how technology and the physical realm might co-exist in the future. These projects were a response to the political, ecological and social conditions of their time. Superstudio (continuous, pervasive, ubiquitous, free, minimal, open, meditative, formless, networked and infinite), Archigram (machinic, plugged-in, gadget-driven, superstructure enabled, socialist high-tech, episodic, pop), Dr. Strangelove's techno-bunker (bunkered, exclusive, clandestine, inbred, disconnected, paranoid, virtual), Buckminster Fuller's project for New York (isolated, protected, exclusive, hub, static, conditioned, inter-dependent, disconnected).

The bottom four images were also discussed in the seminar last night. They are examples of contemporary projects that suggest an entirely new set of ideas that might guide the future of our cities and landscapes. Descriptive words that were used to describe these projects were: Soft, Intelligent, Indeterminate, Networked, Interactive, Emergent, Atmospheric, Responsive, Bio-mimetic, Real-time, Information-driven, Sustainable, Smart, Metabolic ... How will these various ideas organize themselves to define our future physical environments? What are the politics underlying their potential manifestation both physically, ecologically and socially? (credits: watanabe japan, obuchi uk, decoi usa, eth zurich)

crank my eco-hub (2108 City of the Future)

On Jan 15th we presented our finalist entry for the '08 History Channel "2108 City of the Future Competition". The event was held at Union Station in Washington DC. For more information on our collaborative team and project click here: GROW:DC. Our project received great coverage in articles by the Washington Post, National Public Radio (NPR) and UVa Today.

vivisys chicago opening

Dates: 11.29.07 - 03.01.08
vivisys Installation + Exhibition
Jason Johnson and Nataly Gattegno + vivisys was produced in collaboration with the composer/sound artist/instrument designer Troy Rogers. Rogers is a PhD. candidate in UVa’s Music Department Composition and Computing Technologies Program VCCM. The Tektonics Design Group of Richmond collaborated on the project and sponsored all of the CNC fabrication work.

EXTENSION GALLERY FOR ARCHITECTURE
1835 South Halsted Street - Chicago Arts District
http://www.extensiongallery.com/

Vivisys Process Slideshow

Upcoming Chicago Installation and Exhibition

We are busy preparing for the December opening of our upcoming show in Chicago at the Extension Gallery for Architecture. From the press release: Future Cities Lab's new "Vivisystem" installation is an experimental double-curved lattice vault that plays host to an extraordinary cluster of rapidly prototyped aluminum and acrylic barnacles. Three-dimensional auroras of LEDS and electron emitting cold cathode tubes respond to interactions from their environment. Vivisystem synthesizes patterns of the organic and the manufactured into a new creative paradigm for energy, form and matter. Check back soon for images and updates!

Metropolis Magazine Sept 2007 Article

An article about the Robotic Ecologies Lab was featured in the September 2007 issue of Metropolis Magazine: "Shape Shifters: Architecture Schools Use Robotics to Design Buildings That React to the Environment" by Jim Rendon. Click on this [link] to read the full article. Quoting from the article: Seth Edwards, a graduate of the program who also took the class, sees robotics as a way to make buildings more energy efficient and to connect them to the natural world. One of Johnson’s prototypes, for example, is a building that can be linked to real-time weather updates that would alert it to high winds and other extreme conditions, allowing it to cut wind resistance by changing its shape or to open a rainwater collection system when a storm is passing over. “If kinetic buildings can sense something going on in the environment and respond to it, they are no longer stale objects,” Edwards says. “They become more like plants—they are actually more connected to nature.”

... we'll need to rethink a few things ...

1. Connecting: ... we'll need to rethink a few things ... A link to Prof. Michael Wesch's Digital Ethnography videos: The Machine is Us/ing Us [Link] A Vision ... [Link]
2. Sensing: If things knew when they were being used -- wouldn't we save a whole lot of energy? The "Power of Dreams" commercials by Honda. Here is the YouTube [Link].
3. Constructing: An intriguing project from the ETH in Zürich that uses information extracted directly from a 3D (digital) model to guide a robotic arm as it constructs a (physical) algorithmically generated serpentine brick wall (move over TJ!). [Link]. From Monocle: "The Gantenbein Winery, in Fläsch, Switzerland, has been the prototype for an entirely new approach to bricklaying: using modified industrial robots. Traditionally, the promise of industrial robots has been that they would replace the human workforce. But these projects, led by the Architecture and Digital Fabrication laboratory at ETH Zürich, demonstrate a different result: architects are free to create designs and patterns of a precision that simply could not be achieved by hand."

RECIPROCITY: Energy + Form Interactions

This short film documents several experimental design prototypes produced by the Robotic Ecologies Seminar during the Spring 2007 semester at the University of Virginia. Concepts from these prototypes will continue to be developed during 2007-2008. A working 1/2 scale prototype for an experimental energy-harvesting robotic glass house is currently being developed. The project is scheduled to be released and exhibited in January 2008. Note: to download a higher-res (42 MB .wmv format) movie file click here: DOWNLOAD. You can also hover over the hyperlink + right-click and select "Save Target As" to save the movie. Enjoy!

seven seven seven

After disappearing for many many weeks Nataly and I resurfaced on 07-07-07 in Athens, Greece --- and yes, the rumours are very true! We will see you back at UVA in September!

Prototype Images from Opening

NIME NYC Conference June 2007

I will be attending the NIME 2007 International Conference and Workshops on New Interfaces for Musical Expression being held at NYU from June 6-10. It is sponsored by Harvestworks, LEMUR - League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots, NYU - Steinhardt, Tisch - ITP, Columbia Music Center, and Eyebeam. Troy Rogers, an amazing former Robotic Ecologies student and current PhD candidate from UVA's VCCM (Composition and Computing) will be presenting 2 projects in concerts at the Loewe Theater at NYU.

Robo Ecologies in The HOOK (and more)

The HOOK featured an article about our McGuffey Arts Center Opening in this week's issue. The 5-24-07 "On Architecture" column was written by Dave McNair. He writes: In this vision of the future, Johnson imagines, architecture will be in constant negotiation with the energy cycles of its surroundings and with the needs of its inhabitants. Likening such architecture to airplane design, Johnson says that some elements of the design will be "pre-shaped" and stationary, while other elements will be "active, dynamic and form-seeking."

Other recent commentary May/June 2007>>
ZDNet/Roland Piquepailles's Tech Trends:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=587
http://www.primidi.com/2007/05/28.html#a1849
SlashDot:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/07/05/28/229250.shtml
Robots.Net:
http://robots.net/article/2249.html
Impact LAB:
http://www.impactlab.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=11869
Robo Ecologies Shape Themselves To Serve You:
http://technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=1060

MAY 5th RELEASE PARTY

Here are some images from the release party on May 5th, '07. All robots (and their human counterparts) performed beautifully! We also had an amazing group of visitors assembled for the discussion. I will publish more images as soon as things calm down a bit. We will also release the documentary film in a few weeks. Check back soon!

!!! Release Party + Phase 04 Final Discussion

The release party and Phase 04 Final Discussion will take place on Saturday, May 5th from 7-9:00pm at the McGuffey Arts Center Downtown [Map] in the Studio 11 space. Our invited guests include Axel Killian from MIT, Kamin Whitehouse (sensor networks) from Computer Science, Matthew Burtner (composer and sound artist) from Composition and Computer Sciences, as well as guests from Robotics and the UVa School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture including William Morrish, Robin Dripps, Peter Waldman, Lucia Phinney and landscape architect Chris Fannin. SARC student Tamar Shafrir will also be debuting her latest Robotic Ecologies documentary film/robo-propaganda/sci-fi thriller. Safety goggles and ear protection will be provided!

View IMAGES of recent progress and reviews. Click the image above for an INVITE. Send questions to: jasonjohnson at virginia.edu

Generative Components

FYI - GC Installation Instructions:
ftp://ftp.bentley.com/GenerativeComponents/GC_Install_Instructions.doc
Install the Beta Version:
http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Markets/Building/Generative+Components+Beta/Download+GenComponents+Beta.htm
Good Links to tutorials etc.
http://www.eatyourcad.com/tag.php?tag=Generative%20Components
Forum and Various Links:
http://www.gcuser.com/
Good Introductory Exercise by Dr. Axel Killian:
ftp://ftp.bentley.com/GenerativeComponents/GC_Example_1.doc

Phase 03 Review Images

(Click on the image for a short GIF animation.) Thank-you to our recent reviewers Dean Abernathy from IATH and SARC, David Rifkind from SARC History, and UVa structural engineering professor Kirk Martini.

Phase 03 Presentations April 18

Introducing IRIS, TILT and RAVE: Phase 03 presentations will take place tonight at 7pm in the UVA SARC VisLab Ex. C. The team projects are: I.R.I.S. > Intelligent Responsive Integrated Space (formerly know as the ribbon group), T.I.L.T. > Transformative Intelligent Loop Tower (formerly know as the loop group), R.A.V.E. > Reactive Acoustic Variable Expansive Space (formerly know as the cell group). Safety goggles and ear protection will be provided.

The date for the final release discussion + party will be announced soon! Location: McGuffey Art Center, Downtown Charlottesville. Date, Time: TBA

* Phase 02 Presentations Mar 28

Reciprocity, Feedback, Material Intelligence (or even Personality?): Phase 02 Presentations took place on Wednesday night. Each team presented working robotic prototypes: The Cell Team (see movie above) presented an interactive scissor canopy (link), the Loop Team is developing a responsive heliotropic vertical assembly (link) and the Ribbon Team is working on a suspended intelligent material assembly (link). Luckily we still have 5 weeks to develop and refine the projects. [Special thanks to our "RoboPaparazzi" Tamar Shafrir, also thanks to our recent project reviewers: Profs. Nataly Gattegno, Jenny Lovell, Jeanna Ripple and Anselmo Canfora)

Future Cities Lab Updated

The Future Cities Lab web site has been updated. The full version will be released soon! Here is an an image of our Super Galazy project from 2006.

Crowd (Energy) Farms

MIT Graduate Students James Graham (a former UVA UGrad) and Thaddeus Jusczyk have been getting a lot of press for their Crowd Farms project (link). Quoting a MIT website: "And while the farm is an urban vision, the dynamo-floor principle can also be applied to capturing energy at places like rock concerts, too. "Greater movement of people could make the music louder," suggests Jusczyk." MIT Associate Professor J. Meejin Yoon has been serving as their advisor. We look forward to seeing this project develped further. Yusuke Obuchi's Wave Garden (his Princeton Thesis) also explored piezo-electric energy generation on a massive scale: "Wave Garden situates itself between the dynamic movement of nature and social forces, linking the ebb and flow of the ocean’s waves to the societal wave of fluctuating energy consumption." (link 1)(link 2)

* Phase 01 Presentations Feb 28

Phase 01 presentations are scheduled for Feb 28 at 7pm. Don't forget your safety googles!

Make Controller Kits and MAX/MSP

Info for the Computation and Machine Groups:
I have two more Make Controller Kits for groups to begin testing. I will get them to Alex and Troy today. In the meantime – please make sure that you meet with your Ribbon, Loop or Cell team ASAP to get project ideas rolling. Here are some helpful links specifically for the Computation and Machine Groups:
MakingThings Website (LINK)
Making Things Forum (LINK)
Cycling 74 MAX/MSP/Jitter (LINK) :
MAX/MSP 30-day Trial Download (LINK)
MAX/MSP + Make Controller PATCHES (LINK)
cv.jit for MAX/MSP comp vision (LINK)

Good Books + Good Links

Several of you have asked me about good books to purchase - here are three great ones to get you started > My top choice is: Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers by O’Sullivan, Dan and Igoe, Tom. [Thompson Course Tech Press, 2004], also: Responsive Environments: Architecture, Art and Design by Lucy Bullvant [V+A Contemporary, 2006], The Self-Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature by Philip Ball, 2001. All of these are available first or second-hand through Amazon.

Also, here are some of the links to research offices that we have discussed recently in the seminar: The Living run by David Benjamin and Soo-in Yang, Tristan d'Estree Sterk of the The Office For Robotic Architectural Media & The Bureau For Responsive Architecture, Francois Roche of R&Sie and Biothing. Also Peter Yeadon's nanoarchitecture. Enjoy!

Self-Organized Phenomena

Check out this Java Applet Slime Mold Simulation and the StarLogo Simulations of Self-Organized Phenomena. Also, take a look at this "exploring emergent behaviours" interactive essay. The site also includes a great set of links to other Artificial Intelligence sources.

Epigenetic Landscapes

During our 1-24-07 session we discussed ideas related to Conrad Waddington's, "Epigenetic Landscapes" (pictured above). It is an important concept for us to explore. If you would like to read more please see Sanford Kwinter's "Landscapes of Change" essay in Assemblage 19, 1993. Quoting Kwinter: "Epigenetic landscape seen from below: The complex relief features of the epigenetic surface are themselves largely the expression of a prodigiously complex network of interactions underlying it. The guy-ropes are tethered not only to random points on the overhead surface, but to points on the other guy-ropes as well, and to pegs in the lower surface that themselves represent only semi-stabilized forms, thus multiplying exponentially the non-linearities flowing through the system. Not to diminish in importance either is the tension surface above as a distinct domain contributing its own forces to the field. No change in any single parameter can fail to be relayed throughout the system and to affect, in turn, conditions all across the event surface." (image credit: Conrad H. Waddington, Epigenetic Landscape, in Strategy of the Genes, 1957)

LINK > Sensors, Actuators, Software, Controllers

SUPPLIES > SENSORS, ACTUATORS +
Jameco (mailorder, nice pics)
Phidgets
RadioShack (local)
Electronic Plus (in CA)
McMaster-Carr
Trossen Robotics
Solarbotics (hobby thin film solar mods)
All Electronics

SOFTWARE
Max/MSP/Jitter (student packages available)
Processing (free download)

CONTROLLERS
Make Controller Kit
BASIC Stamp by Parallax

RAW LCDS
All Electronics, MobileVideoZone, QualityMobileVideo, Care Electronics

OTHER LISTS
NYU Tisch Physical Computing ITP

Mechanics, Sensors, Gears

Sensors Galore: http://itp.nyu.edu/physcomp/sensors/Reports/Reports
Making Gears: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/People/rapidproto/mechanisms/chpt7.html
Input Tech (sensors etc.): http://www.billbuxton.com/InputSources.html
Kinetic Design Group Matrix: http://kdg.mit.edu/Matrix/matrix.html

Material (Intelligence) 02

Imagine how this material assembly of photo-voltaics and glass might change shape, orientation or density to optimize for solar exposure. Could it physically expand or contract based on real-time weather data or the predicted needs of its occupants? How might its skin respond (open, close, filter) to air quality depletion due to pollutants or ozone depletion? Could entire robotic assemblies be biodegradable? How might we best intermesh a robotic system of sensor arrays, actuators and micro-controllers into this model? How will the material logic of this assembly need to adapt? How will designers optimize (through scripting or progamming) these assemblies for use throughout a day, or throughout the course of a year? How will humans occupy and interact with this type of space? How do we embed elements of chance or the unexpected in these systems? (this prototype was built by Arch 552 student Paul Fromm)

Future-Cities-Lab.net Goes Live

We have just published our new web site. It will be updated over the next few months. http://www.future-cities-lab.net/ We will have links to our research, projects and academic work. Many thanks to our summer 2006 interns: Carrie Norman, Beth Haber and Thomas Kelly. Best, Jason and Nataly

Arch 562 Student Contact Info

STUDENTS
Paul Fromm pf3e@virginia.edu - Karey Helms kdh8f@virginia.edu - Seth Edwards jse6c@virginia.edu - Billy Glick wcg4u@virginia.edu - Katie Hilton kch8g@virginia.edu - Howard Kim hjk7g@virginia.edu - Michael Bartosch mab2sz@virginia.edu - E. Scott Mitchell esm9b@virginia.edu - Nora White nlw5h@virginia.edu - Ko Kuwabara kk8k@virginia.edu - Greta Modesitt gkm9s@virginia.edu - Troy Rogers tsr9f@virginia.edu - Eyal Einik ehe8a@virginia.edu - Matthew Robisch mtr7v@virginia.edu - Jessica Terdeman - jt5sk@virginia.edu - Anthony Lawson ast3z@virginia.edu

INDEPENDENT STUDIES
Tamar Shafrir ts9j@virginia.edu - Alex Kong clk9x@virginia.edu

Material (Intelligence) 01

As we discussed in last night's first 552 seminar session: How can we add some level of computational intelligence to elegant material assemblies such as these? (model by my Arch 401 student Karey Helms)

Welcome to Arch 562

The Arch 562 Robotic Ecologies seminar met for our introductory session on Wednesday night (1-17-07). We will be meeting every Wed. night from 7:00-10:00pm in Campbell Hall 108. Looking forward to an interesting and productive semester!

Here is the text from the intro of the syllabus:
This seminar is not just about architectural machines that move. It is about groups of architectural machines that move with intelligence. We will call these new organizations “Robotic Ecologies”: promiscuous new environments brought forth by the rapid release of advanced computation into the physical realm. The ideas we will explore in this seminar are an attempt to understand, to work with and against, these new technological (and some say spiritual) paradigms. Our explorations will be as much about exposing the dangers of our twenty-first century technological imperative as they are about celebrating their latent potential. We will no doubt be both terrified and thrilled by the rich, diverse and fascinating territories currently emerging in the arts and sciences.

The crossing of architecture and robotics represents one of the most promising and perhaps exigent technological intersections in recent times. Robots are sensing, thinking and moving entities. They are different from most machines in that they are capable of intelligent behavior – the capacity to learn, adapt and act on their senses and intuitions. Groups of robots, or robotic ecologies, are unique in their capacity to work as an organized system: rather than merely acting on their individual desires, robotic ecologies can work collectively in swarms or packs. Without much fanfare, an extraordinary new phylum of intelligent machines is coming to life in laboratories, studios and machine shops across the planet. Designers are building and programming kinematic self-replicating machines, modular self-assembling robots, fields of sun-tracking robotic sunflowers, and the like. As Marshall McLuhan famously said, “First we build the tools, and then they build us.” This seminar is about experimenting, exposing and exalting these new tools, processes and technologies. It is about exploring what happens when endless arrays of intelligent machines come together to form and define the world around us.

LINK > Rhino Tutorials

Mostly for my new Arch 302 crew:
Basic tutorials are online at: http://www.rhino3d.com/tutorials.htm [Remember to scroll down through the tutorials, there are some basic tutorials further down the page]. For video tutorials: http://www.rhino3d.tv/ [The tutorials are free but you need to log-in]. Rhino Wiki: http://en.wiki.mcneel.com/default.aspx/McNeel/RhinoHome.html [Search for a topic or just browse… tutorials, whitepapers, models, scripting, bios, etc, etc….. this is the place where you can find just about anything]. If you find better links please send them to me!

Are Robots Your Friends?

I saw this posted on a telephone pole in San Francisco. It must be some kind of robot cult or something?

Reyner Banham Loves LA

Architectural critic Reyner Banham explores Los Angeles in this 1972 BBC documentary.

LA Site Visit Arch 401

Jason's Arch 401 studio visited Los Angeles from Oct. 5th to the 10th. The studio was working on a hotel and leisurescape at LAX airport. This picture was taken by Jason (on the far left) at the Frank Gehry's Disney Hall. Other highlights included a visit to the Eames House, the Schindler House, Sci-Arc, UCLA, a meeting with Eric Owen Moss at his office, with Julie Eizenberg in her office, and THE highlight -- the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City.

THE TOOLS WE USED

A hand axe discovered in the Olduvai Gorge in Kenya is over a million and a half years old. As a metaphor for the first thing made by man, it prefigures the whole world of making and shaping. No earlier artifact exists on earth. All art and technology began when early man chipped an oval stone flint with symmetrical precision to produce a point and extremely sharp edges. The prosaic name given to these exquisite objects is Acheulian hand axe. In a world where tools might have been the most important things made, their qualities were sometimes brought to a perfection far beyond the needs of practicality. Craft, symmetry and elegance speak of pride in creation, pleasure in contemplation, prestige in possession. There are three factors which set this particular artifact apart from other prehistoric tools. Firstly, if does not reflect the natural shapes of stones nor is it the result of natural fractures. There is nothing accidental about the design. Secondly, the design seems to be the result of a shared aesthetic as these tools are found all over Africa, the Middle East and Southern Europe. A vast distance at the time. Thirdly, they were made with a painstaking refinement which far exceeds practical requirements. They are 'the first real evidence of style'. (Lyall Watson. The Lightning Bird. Simon and Schuster, NY. 1983) Note: the hand axe pictured above was found in Germany.

THE ROBO-ECOLOGIES BLOG IS BORN

A very modest beginning - looking forward to the semester ahead!