robotic ecologies

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Mechanics Video Resources

I found these great Mechatronic videos from the Mech Engineering Dept at CSU:
http://www.engr.colostate.edu/~dga/video_demos/mechatronics/
http://www.engr.colostate.edu/~dga/high_speed_video/index.html

Sensors: http://www.sensorland.com/ see "how they work" section

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

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!

Monday, January 29, 2007

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)

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

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Biodegradable Robotics

Bucky Fuller

“A self-balancing, 88-jointed adapter-base bi-ped: an electrochemical reduction plant with storage batteries of energy extracts for activating thousands of hydraulic pumps, 62,000 miles
[100,000 km] of capillaries, self-lubricating crushers and cranes: this whole mechanism guided from a turret containing stereoscopic rangefinders, olfactory and auditory sensors, air-conditioning inlet and exhaust, and a main fuel intake. The whole system needing no servicing for 70 years, if well managed!” (Buckminster Fuller)

Friday, January 19, 2007

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