Cognitive
Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop
Great student project showing possibilities in Augmented Reality. The author writes “The latter half of the 20th century saw the built environment merged with media space, and architecture taking on new roles related to branding, image and consumerism. Augmented reality may recontextualise the functions of consumerism and architecture, and change in the way in which we operate within it. A film produced for my final year Masters in Architecture, part of a larger project about the social and architectural consequences of new media and augmented reality.” I think this is a great example of what is possible and why it is so critical that we design how this media is integrated with architecture.
Augmented Reality Glasses Concept by Nokia
Really interesting augmented reality glasses concept by Nokia. Nokia is experimenting with new types of interactions involving near-to-eye displays, gaze direction tracking, 3D audio, 3D video, gesture and touch. A number of different vendors are coming to the table with similar concepts, most of which involve augmenting interfaces over space. After the first wave of glasses has hit the market users can expect interfaces to become even more integrated. More information about this project can be found here.
Spatial Robot Prototypes by Miles Kemp
Nano Meta-morphic Architecture consists of a palette of small-scale self-similar robotic modules that have the ability to dynamically move and attach to other modules to create different configurations in real-time. Each module has a different material on its exterior, various hardware (sensors, accelerometers, computation and kinetics) and computational logic to enable it to interpret and physically respond to different local and global inputs. Inhabitants can use hundreds of thousands of these modules to create and recreate dynamic real-time formations. This project included the design of the overall geometry, logic and behavior of the modules as well as the creation and development of fully working prototypes. Project link at Series Design/Build and Variate Labs.
Read full article »
Miles Kemp Featured on City of Sound
Miles was featured on City of Sound. Thanks Dan Hill! Quote from the feature: “Robert Miles Kemp’s talk was always interesting and occasionally spellbinding, most of all when showing the work in responsive robotic structures. His videos of simple blocks self-assembling into what he called “nano-architecture” are quite extraordinary… Kemp situated this within a wider context of interactive and informational architecture, centred around his work at Variate Labs and renowned new media deisgn firm Schematic (and his blog, Spatial Robots) described in a consistently interesting talk, covering many of the primary themes in contemporary interface design – and indeed extending the idea of where and what interfaces are.”
Microsoft Office Labs Future Vision 2019 (Health)
Interesting montage of different concepts for tangibility of information across multiple disciplines. The health services video is especially interesting.
No Comments »Rat Brain Robot by Mark Hammond
This is no ordinary robot control system – a plain old microchip connected to a circuit board. Instead, the controller nestles inside a small pot containing a pink broth of nutrients and antibiotics. Inside that pot, some 300,000 rat neurons have made – and continue to make – connections with each other.
No Comments »Utility Fog by John Storrs Hall
Utility Fog is a hypothetical collection of tiny robots, envisioned by Dr. John Storrs Hall while he was thinking about a nanotechnological replacement for car seatbelts. The robots would be microscopic, with extending arms reaching in several different directions, and could perform lattice reconfiguration. Grabbers at the ends of the arms would allow the robots (or foglets) to mechanically link to one another and share both information and energy, enabling them to act as a continuous substance with mechanical and optical properties that could be varied over a wide range. Each foglet would have substantial computing power, and would be able to communicate with its neighbors.
Metamorphic Space by Robert Miles Kemp
Miles Kemp’s Masters Thesis at Southern California Institute of Architecture looked at the logic behind robot precedents at the Cornell and Xerox Parc and developed a series of robot prototypes that related to reconfigurable architectural space.
