Robotic repair system

An integrated robotic repair system for repairing a surface is described. The said system comprising: a base translation system (110), said system comprising a multistage platform; a repair module (150), said module coupled to the translation system (110) to move the module (150) relative to the base translation system (110); an end effector selector system coupled to the repair module, said selector system comprising end effector repair tools (360, 362, 366), each tool (360, 362, 366) configured to undertake a repair task on the surface; and deployable legs (120), said legs (120) coupled to the base translation system (110) and configured to engage and disengage from the surface to allow the system to walk along surface

What do we mean: the language of design for sustainable practices

Design research has metamorphosed exponentially over ten years, with discipline titles becoming muted and complex. Discipline terminology, previously dictated outputs, for example product design included artefact outputs, but now includes strategic direction, highlighting communications importance. This change serves as a catalyst for enquiry, not only in what design is, but shifting the speculative realm of what it can do, cultivate or foster. This position paper underscores the importance of language in propelling Ecological Citizenship and shaping sustainable futures diverging from conventional paths. Acknowledging the impact of climate change on all life forms, the article recognizes design's dual role: as both a solution and a challenge in confronting climate-related issues (Godelnik, R. 2021). The distinction between mere participation and empowering individuals to have agency emerges as pivotal in this context. This however is reliant on the systems, interventions and agency those individuals are empowered with. Emphasising language's significance in post-participatory activities, the article addresses how language has been underexplored within "design for sustainable practices" compared to its prevalence in "design for inclusion" (Nuñez, 2013; Reed and Monk, 2006). It presents an iterative glossary (not as an authoritative guide) but the groundwork for the burgeoning field of post-participation. Our agenda aims to empower citizens, to actively shape environments within a contemporary design framework. The exploration underscores language as a crucial component in design influencing perceptions and power dynamics in co-design processes (Sanders, et al., 2008). The article advocates for language fostering collaboration, aligning with contemporary notions where precision in language cultivates trust and propagates cultural understanding. Exploring the significant impact of language within design, emphasises its pivotal role in shaping perceptions, power dynamics, and socio-cultural intricacies. The suggested glossary, curated by team members of The Ecological Citizens project, offers a preliminary glimpse into terms commonly employed in discussions about design for sustainable practices. These terms, including for example 'gatekeeper' and 'preferable futures,' prompt the need to comprehend their nuanced meanings, potential cross-disciplinary misunderstanding and variations in interpretation. Understanding how these terms are used and perceived differently becomes essential in fostering effective communication and shared understanding within the discourse. Moreover, it stresses the need for sensitivity to linguistic disparities across cultures, emphasising language's pivotal role in post-participatory design, empowering communities, fostering inclusivity, and driving responsible transformations. Ultimately, the study advocates for an inclusive design approach that harnesses language to empower communities and individuals while driving responsible transformations in the face of challenges like the climate crisis, climate justice, and ecocide. The collective perspective shaped by evolving language and terminology post-participation aims to foster collaborative and inclusive approaches crucial for sustainable transitions without marginalising or undermining societies or cultures. The People & Planet Consumer Insights report (Ingka Group, 2023) states one of the highest priorities is to “continue to engage the many people on people and planet topics – rationally and emotionally”. What is more rational or emotional than language and comprehension. This encompasses distant futures, where we are all included, have agency and unite to achieve common aims

Whether we design: A weather report

The following report summarises a conversation between staff and students about the weather and design at a School of Design PhD seminar at the Royal College of Art on 16th February and 9th March 2023. A Strange Weather, A Strange Word. Very often, the words climate and weather are used interchangeably. It would seem that both terms stem from the same root, but this is not the case. Climate comes from the late Latin clima and the Greek klima, meaning ‘slope’ or ‘lean’. Wither, or weather, instead, comes from the Germanic root linked to ‘wind’ (Cresswell, 2021). Regardless of their roots, the interdependence between climate and weather might be why the meaning of climate has significantly changed over the years. At first, climate meant a “zone of the earth between two lines of latitude”. Later, it was referred to as earth’s “atmospheric conditions” (ibid.). Today, the climate is conceptualised as “an integrated biogeophysical system highly vulnerable to human interference” (Dryzek, 2022). Strangely, as we begin to perceive weather as both vulnerable and extreme, weather and climate will likely mean something entirely different for future generations

Practices of narration: A plural (re)imagination of Maré

This research departs from the work of Redes da Maré (Redes), a grassroots organisation based in Maré, a set of 16 favelas in Rio de Janeiro. Through collaborative research with Redes, I adopt an interpretive lens on narratives to comprehend their methodologies and spatial practices to expand the access of rights in the favelas. Drawing from feminist scholarship, I employ situated knowledges to understand Redes' counter-narratives that foster a plural (re)imagination for Maré. To disentangle Maré’s spatial disputes and locate Redes’ political action, I contemplate the multiplicity of knowledges surrounding this context using the notion of ecologies. In ecologies, as Feminist thinkers have observed, knowledges are non-hierarchical since each form of knowledge represents a partial perspective of reality. Observing knowledges through ecologies involves tracing the relational struggles intersecting race, gender, labour, sexuality, age, and context. I have recognised three ecologies in Redes’ everyday activities: (A) ‘Representations’, consisting of a dispute of narratives and counter-narratives for Maré's social imagination in the city; (B) ‘Rights & Space’, informing how rights are learned and exercised in the favelas; and (C) ‘Practices of Narration’ (PoN) concerning Redes’ spatial practices to convey counter-narratives seeking full citizenship for favela residents. This research investigates how PoN challenge representations that hinder residents' access to material and symbolic rights. Since 2007, Redes has been working to guarantee rights are distributed fairly, building awareness through mobilisation and policy advocacy. Using ethnography and participatory research methods, I unpack five PoN: (1) ‘Gathering- Evidence’, as Redes' data collection on the ground to build evidence-based counternarratives; (2) ‘Identifying-Narratives’ from residents' lived experience and knowledges; (3) ‘Mobilising-Engagement’, focusing on mobilising and sensitising residents of their rights; (4) ‘Documenting-Knowledges’ in making counter-narratives amplified to larger audiences in multiple communication channels; and (5) Enacting-Articulação, weaving agencies and entities in Maré’s urban fabric to approximate residents to accessing their rights. By unravelling PoN, this research sheds light on epistemologies of city-making that are often hidden under hegemonic narratives and, consequently, from the designing and planning activities. Hence, this work borrows theories from urban studies and insurgent citizenship planning, favelas studies, decoloniality, and feminist thinking. Finally, the research highlights the spatial knowledge production in favelas, acknowledging their insurgent forms of representation and expanding the lexicon of methods to read cities in times of uncertainty

With the Participatory Consumer Audience in mind: exploring and developing professional brand identity designers reflexive practice

This PhD reflects upon first-hand unidirectional and passive consumer audience experience approaches prevalent in professional UK brand identity design. It explores: How brand identity designers might move towards an improved reflexive practice in the design of consumer audience experiences. This practice-led research focuses on the ideas generation stage of their design process. An ongoing constructivist audience paradigm shift signals that when thinking about and using their positionality in relation to their consumer audience experiences, designers need reflexive practice to support critical reflection of themselves, their biases and assumptions. This research uncovered a lack of relevant theory regarding reflexive practice specific to the context of brand identity design. This insufficiency throws into doubt designers' relational, participatory and equitable approaches in their working practices and their abilities to address market imperatives, including client requirements connected to the ongoing audience paradigm shift. Aligned with John Dewey's ethical pragmatism and drawing from Creswell, Tashakkori and Teddlie, my study adopts a mixed methods methodology. Alongside established qualitative and quantitative methods, this includes my practice via design visualisations, as discussed by Drucker, and builds upon Carl DiSalvo's approach of practice used to do inquiry and design as a method of inquiry. My practice enabled me to critically reflect, evaluate and construct reflexive practice knowledge, including the development of reflexive practice communications, to advance understanding of and improve other designers' reflexive practice, and to communicate my process of reflexive design practice research. Thirty UK-based professional brand identity designers participated in this research: nineteen participants in Phase One, a questionnaire, and six in Phase Two semi-structured interviews. Phase One and Two findings identified a gap in that designers are not employing a reflexive design practice and lack the resources to do so. Seeking to improve these shortcomings, eighteen initial reflexive design practice principles were explored and tested in Phase Three, a workshop involving five design participants. Results showed that the principles facilitated participants to advance prior thinking and engage in a reflexive design practice. Further reflections and insights from the same five Phase Three participants uncovered a need to refine and reduce the principles and communicate them in a guide. Eight revised overarching and eighteen sub-principles in a prototype guide were explored in Phase Four in applied practice by three brand identity designers involved in Phase Three. Results corroborated workshop findings and provided further recommendations. Contributions of this research are three-fold. First, offering an advanced understanding of professional brand identity designers' reflexive practice and process knowledge. Second, it produced a reflexive design guide with eight overarching and eighteen sub-reflexive design principles and corresponding digital app, thereby offering a preliminary new design practice method. This method offers a way to improve designers' thinking about and operation of their relational positionality, participatory consumer audience experience approaches, and reflexive design practice actions. Third, it provides a contribution to knowledge via its methodology, which integrates design visualisation practice into a mixed methods approach

The usefulness of imperfect design

We documented hundreds of projects many of which might have saved lives. All were produced as quickly as possible with designed outcomes getting more and more rudimentary – imperfection was irrelevant. Use was king. Lifesaving designs, absolutely essential and useful but all imperfect. Perfection would have been deathly!. In our book – A Design History of the COVID-19 Virus – we documented the COVID-19 crisis as it evolved every day from the 1st of January 2020 to 31st May 2020. This temporal span encompassed; the outbreak; the first lockdown and reopening. We looked at all of this care and caring from the point of view of design and, by the sheer volume of design interventions we have documented, illustrate that design really does care

The form-affordance-function (FAF) triangle of design: Interactions of affordances with form and function in industrial design

For centuries, the relationship between form and function has been a point of debate in the communities of architecture and design, leading to the development of various theories which have attempted to establish a tangible relationship between these two entities. Besides, the concept of affordance, adopted from Gibson’s ecological psychology theory, has appeared as a widely-used concept in design practice and research. Nevertheless, while it is generally accepted that these concepts have close dependencies and interactions, it appears that there is no explicit theoretical framework that relates three of the most fundamental concepts of design, namely form, function, and affordance. This paper aims to analyze the concept of affordance in the context of industrial design, where we attempt to develop insights into the role of affordances in relation to form and function. To this end, we define the form-affordance-function (FAF) triangle of design as a major contributor to the establishment of a partial product design specification (PDS) in the design process. We present several examples to investigate the position of affordances in competition with other design considerations such as engineering performance, ergonomics, and aesthetics. The insights into these relationships could have potential implications for designers in making informed early-stage design decisions

Beyond co-production: Design as a means of evoking agency through ecological citizenship

Design (as a practice) encompasses; appropriate, contextual and strategic interventions empowering new ways of living together. In current times of; climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, design has a role to play (Passarelli, et al., 2021). This triple planetary crisis threatens ecosystems at a global scale, necessitating contextual approaches. Designer Buckminster Fuller framed design as supporting whole systems “mak[ing] the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest time possible”, pioneering sustainable opportunities (Buckminster Fuller Institute, 2022). We (the public) are used to being designed ‘to or for’, with common terminology referring to people as users and consumers, not ‘citizens’ (Alexander, et al., 2022). Citizens are already becoming involved in ‘Public Interest Technologies', a contextual design field akin to democracy and politics (McGuinness, et al., 2021). Cross-disciplinary practices nurture new approaches to collectively design ‘with’ people, enabling public agency for sustainable action. Design propositions are not always initiated by designers, or even simply organisations, but created by people in-the-field. For example, co-design (collaborative design) “changes the roles of the designer, the researcher and the person formerly known as the user” (Sanders & Stappers, 2008). Juxtaposed with this (in academic fields) is participatory design as “its object of study is the tacit knowledge developed and used by those who work with technologies” (Spinuzzi, C. 2005). Co-design and participatory design often focus on the designed process or design output, but rarely both. Ecological Citizen(s) (EC), is an approach (and project) to create agency and sustainable actions within contemporary times (Phillips, et al., 2022). Ecological Citizenship is a design approach intent on catalysing/inspiring/invoking a ‘citizen relationship’ with our natural world. We focus on citizenship as a practice rather than a ‘status distinction’. It concerns the agency to mutually benefit others and the planet through sustainable means. This positioning article includes; historic and contemporary insights, literature, up-to-date practice based examples/projects, experiments and proposals. The contextual examples offer differing opportunities enabling citizens to respond to issues, impacting their lives and the lives within spaces and places in which they live. This position advocates for designing proposals to catalyse citizens' agency, supported by appropriate technological outputs. The position also champions publically accessible means, giving citizens both options and agency. We define a clear distinction between ‘design for citizenship’ and citizen positioning, a post-participatory perspective for design. Our research question unpicks: What are the attributes and positive benchmarks of design, as a means of evoking agency through Ecological Citizenship? The audiences for this work (we believe) are not only designers, but leaders in; social innovation, social decision making, design for equity, civic engagement, communities, DIY movements and more. Our Ecological Citizen(s) framework; supports individuals, organisations, businesses to make more positive choices, impacting the planet we inhabit and are reliant upon for all life. The convergence of; the triple planetary crisis, Ecological Citizenship, public interest technologies and designing for citizen agency, offers new modalities of ways we ‘live together’... Unified in a framework of ‘steps toward Ecological Citizenship’

T2GR2: Textile touch gesture recognition with graph representation of EMG

The fashion industry’s negative impact and overconsumption require urgent action to improve and reduce fashion consumption. Tactile gesture plays a vital role in understanding, selecting, and feeling attached to clothes. In this paper, we introduce the FabricTouch II dataset with multimodal infromation, which focuses on fabric assessment touch gestures and aims to support sustainable fashion consumption. By integrating gesture labels, we enhance the dataset’s comprehensiveness, improve recognition accuracy, and provide valuable information for consumers and intelligent systems, such as conversational agents in shop or home wardrobe. Additionally, this study has made preliminary explorations on recognizing fabric touch gestures using time-spectral representations of EMG combined with graph representations on this small batch dataset. The experiment found that the graph representation of EMG outperforms the regular neural network and that the representation capacity of bilateral EMG data is superior to that of unilateral data

Sentences on magic (after Sol LeWitt) (2009)

This text work was written for inclusion on the catalogue to accompany The Dark Monarch: Magic and Modernity in British Art at Tate St Ives. It continues my interest in the relationship between conceptual art and ritual, most especially those forms widely studied by anthropology, such as magic. Here, Sol LeWitt's seminal work ‘Sentences on Conceptual Art’ (1969) is altered so that every original reference to ‘art’ is replaced with one to ‘magic’, ‘artist’ to ‘magician’ similarly. A couple of other minor changes were also necessary. Despite the fact that the sentences now refer to a quite different activity, they still make sense and offer new insights. At the Plymouth Arts Centre, the text was installed as a large wall text using vinyl lettering; as the vinyl was the same colour as the wall upon which it was placed, it could not be read directly but only at an angle, thereby appearing and disappearing with the actions of the reader, as if a spell. The text was also included in Magic (Whitechapel: Documents of Contemporary Art, 2021), edited by Jamie Sutcliffe