Applying Spatial Computing to Everyday Interactive Designs

In this position paper, we address the applicability of spatial computing in the field of interactive architecture. The process of designing large-scale interactive systems is cumbersome, due in fact to single design cycles (transforming ideas into prototypes) taking a period of time usually measured in months, most of it dedicated to writing the software controlling the system. As most interactive architecture projects pass through several design cycles interleaved with user studies, speeding up the generation of the needed software becomes of crucial importance. The global-to-local programming approach is in fact a perfect tool for this task. Describing complex behaviors with simple rules is rarely seen in the existing installations, the large majority employing a central computer for the control of the system. Building up on our previous experience in this area, we created HiveKit, a proof of concept allowing bridging between the two fields, giving non-specialists easy access to distributed algorithms. HiveKit is a software package which allows designers to specify the desired behavior and automatically generate and deploy the needed code on networks of embedded devices. We introduce several projects where HiveKit is employed and create an argument, based on user studies, favoring the need for large-scale adoption of such tools

Active Materials

What is an active material? This book aims to redefine perceptions of the materials that respond to their environment. Through the theory of the structure and functionality of materials found in nature a scientific approach to active materials is first identified. Further interviews with experts from the natural sciences and humanities then seeks to question and redefine this view of materials to create a new definition of active materials

Active Materials

What is an active material? This book aims to redefine perceptions of the materials that respond to their environment. Through the theory of the structure and functionality of materials found in nature a scientific approach to active materials is first identified. Further interviews with experts from the natural sciences and humanities then seeks to question and redefine this view of materials to create a new definition of active materials

Vision 21: Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in the Era of Cyberspace

The symposium Vision-21: Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in the Era of Cyberspace was held at the NASA Lewis Research Center on March 30-31, 1993. The purpose of the symposium was to simulate interdisciplinary thinking in the sciences and technologies which will be required for exploration and development of space over the next thousand years. The keynote speakers were Hans Moravec, Vernor Vinge, Carol Stoker, and Myron Krueger. The proceedings consist of transcripts of the invited talks and the panel discussion by the invited speakers, summaries of workshop sessions, and contributed papers by the attendees

CRICKET: Cryogenic Reservoir Inventory by Cost-Effective Kinetically Enhanced Technology

NASA PROGRAMMATIC CHALLENGE: Locate hidden water ice in the darkest, coldest places on the moon using dozens of simple, autonomous robots. CONCEPTUAL SOLUTION: Use multiple small, autonomous bots to search for hidden water ice in permanently shadowed regions of the surface of the moon. Bots will locate and tag hidden water ice for follow up missions.Technical Basis for proposed solution: use of emerging and maturing technologies - MEMS, Cubesats, Sensor nets, integrated devices will minimize cost risk and maximize return. Benefits: Cricket will enable human exploration through in-situ resource utilization: Cricket will demonstrate a distributed constellation to achieve a key NASA goal of novel uses of commercially available technologies. Cricket will reignite public interest in lunar exploration through a sustained human, and robotic, presence on the moon. Technical Approach: The cricket constellation has three members: the "queen"; the "hive" and the "cricket" foragers. The queen transports the hive an its crickets to the moon. The hive lands on the surface and disperses the crickets (there may be more than one species of cricket). The crickets then use the hive as a communications and recharging hub. Each cricket hosts algorithms that allow it to explore its surroundings and monitor its power state - something like a lunar Roomba - and return for recharging. If they are lost due to power or surface condition problems, replacements can carry out the hive tasks. The two most successful types of bio-inspired algorithms (BIAs) are evolutionary algorithms and swarm-based algorithms which are inspired by the natural evolution and collective behavior in animals.The evolution of the idea is summarized in Table 1 and Figure 1. NIAC context: This system integrates key elements from other NIAC efforts; it uses them and extends them into a meaningful whol

Modulating Visual Connectivity Through 3D-Printed Ceramic Light Screens

This thesis investigates an iterative modeling and fabrication process for customizable building components through the design of a high-performance light screen. Light screens, mostly implemented as physical boundaries for modulating light and providing visual accessibility between the exterior and interior spaces, are considered as highly ornamental elements in the building. One of the most common methods for constructing these screens is casting which provides a high level of flexibility for making pieces with complex geometries. However, casting technique requires making a new mold for every different piece. As a result, designers’ capability to experiment with more complex designs through these trade-off techniques has been limited by the amount of time and cost required to go beyond one-off prototypes. To avoid making new molds, this research uses clay 3D printing as it creates a direct link between the material and the digital model and results in making the pieces without needing a mediator element. Having the opportunity to apply real-time changes to the design parameters, this study evaluates the performance qualities of the screen by regulating the major influential parameters on its functionality: Form, material, light penetration, and position of the viewer. The 3D-printed components are tested with iterative physical prototyping, computational modeling, and digital simulation to demonstrate the created visual and light qualities in different applications. This framework can significantly change the process of design and fabrication of functional building components towards a more affordable and customizable approach

Towards a 3D digital model for management and fruition of Ducal Palace at Urbino. An integrated survey with mobile mapping

none1noThe digitization is the first feat of safety, knowledge and management of Cultural Heritage. The technological development has produced a complexity increase to manage the big data acquired. This paper shows the best practices for the digitization of a museum (National Gallery of Marche), hosted in a historical and complex building: it's a problem of contents and "container" (the Urbino Ducal Palace = a city in the appearance of a Palace). This is the case study of the first challenging aim of the CIVITAS project. The digitization workflow has combined the several sensors and technology at different scales, such as static and mobile wearable laser scanners systems, the different focals for internal and external cameras, 360 panoramas and HD images. The goal achieved is the new 3D digital model, validated and with high accuracy, containing big 3D data, as starting point of HBIM, Serious Games, VR/AR applications.openNespeca R.Nespeca, R

My boy builds coffins. Future memories of your loved ones

The research is focus on the concept of storytelling associated with product design, trying to investigate new ways of designing and a possible future scenario related to the concept of death. MY BOY BUILDS COFFINS is a gravestone made using a combination of cremation’s ashes and resin. It is composed by a series of holes in which the user can stitch a text, in order to remember the loved one. The stitching need of a particular yarn produced in Switzerland using some parts of human body. Project also provides another version which uses LED lights instead of the yarn. The LEDs - thanks to an inductive coupling - will light when It will be posed in the hole. The gravestone can be placed where you want, as if it would create a little altar staff at home. In this way, there is a real connection between the user and the dearly departed