Biomechanical Locomotion Heterogeneity in Synthetic Crowds

Synthetic crowd simulation combines rule sets at different conceptual layers to represent the dynamic nature of crowds while adhering to basic principles of human steering, such as collision avoidance and goal completion. In this dissertation, I explore synthetic crowd simulation at the steering layer using a critical approach to define the central theme of the work, the impact of model representation and agent diversity in crowds. At the steering layer, simulated agents make regular decisions, or actions, related to steering which are often responsible for the emergent behaviours found in the macro-scale crowd. Because of this bottom-up impact of a steering model's defining rule-set, I postulate that biomechanics and diverse biomechanics may alter the outcomes of dynamic synthetic-crowds-based outcomes. This would mean that an assumption of normativity and/or homogeneity among simulated agents and their mobility would provide an inaccurate representation of a scenario. If these results are then used to make real world decisions, say via policy or design, then those populations not represented in the simulated scenario may experience a lack of representation in the actualization of those decisions. A focused literature review shows that applications of both biomechanics and diverse locomotion representation at this layer of modelling are very narrow and often not present. I respond to the narrowness of this representation by addressing both biomechanics and heterogeneity separately. To address the question of performance and importance of locomotion biomechanics in crowd simulation, I use a large scale comparative approach. The industry standard synthetic crowd models are tested under a battery of benchmarks derived from prior work in comparative analysis of synthetic crowds as well as new scenarios derived from built environments. To address the question of the importance of heterogeneity in locomotion biomechanics, I define tiers of impact in the multi-agent crowds model at the steering layer--from the action space, to the agent space, to the crowds space. To this end, additional models and layers are developed to address the modelling and application of heterogeneous locomotion biomechanics in synthetic crowds. The results of both studies form a research arc which shows that the biomechanics in steering models provides important fidelity in several applications and that heterogeneity in the model of locomotion biomechanics directly impacts both qualitative and quantitative synthetic crowds outcomes. As well, systems, approaches, and pitfalls regarding the analysis of steering model and human mobility diversity are described

Analyzing Human-Building Interactions in Virtual Environments Using Crowd Simulations

This research explores the relationship between human-occupancy and environment designs by means of human behavior simulations. Predicting and analyzing user-related factors during environment designing is of vital importance. Traditional Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools mostly represent geometric and semantic aspects of environment components (e.g., walls, pillars, doors, ramps, and floors). They often ignore the impact that an environment layout produces on its occupants and their movements. In recent efforts to analyze human social and spatial behaviors in buildings, researchers have started using crowd simulation techniques for dynamic analysis of urban and indoor environments. These analyses assist the designers in analyzing crowd-related factors in their designs and generating human-aware environments. This dissertation focuses on developing interactive solutions to perform spatial analytics that can quantify the dynamics of human-building interactions using crowd simulations in the virtual and built-environments. Partially, this dissertation aims to make these dynamic crowd analytics solutions available to designers either directly within mainstream environment design pipelines or as cross-platform simulation services, enabling users to seamlessly simulate, analyze, and incorporate human-centric dynamics into their design workflows

Mass customization for the design and production of flexible

Orientador: Maria Gabriela Caffarena CelaniDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e UrbanismoResumo: A necessidade de personalizar espaços varia de acordo com as demandas específicas dos usuários, principalmente nas camadas mais internas do edifício. No entanto, a inadequação do mobiliário padronizado a edificações com planta reduzida e rígida e as restrições ao acesso da maioria da população a projetos de layouts personalizados repercutem em conflitos de uso, especialmente nos locais mais cotidianos, como habitações e escritórios. Nos ambientes contemporâneos de trabalho, a frequência de mudanças das tecnologias e dos formatos de interação entre seus ocupantes acentuam a necessidade de flexibilidade espacial. Paralelamente, a crescente disponibilidade de equipamentos de fabricação digital e de projetos abertos em plataformas online tornam a personalização em série mais acessível. Nesse contexto, a incorporação de estratégias de projeto computacional por arquitetos e designers pode combinar processos agenciados pelos indivíduos à geração de soluções mais adequadas. Por outro lado, observa-se que os projetos criados com essa abordagem tendem a focar na diversidade inicial das soluções, desconsiderando modificações ao longo do ciclo de vida dos edifícios. Diante desse cenário, esta dissertação de mestrado tem como principal objetivo desenvolver um artefato para personalização em série voltado ao projeto e à produção de espaços flexíveis. Tem caráter qualitativo e prescritivo, seguindo a metodologia da Design Science Research. A pesquisa traz como principal produto o protótipo de um sistema integrado baseado em um procedimento de Christopher Alexander. O sistema possibilita a composição de layouts pelos usuários, com personalização dimensional e fabricação digital do mobiliário em escala reduzida, em espaços de trabalho e estudo. O artefato foi aplicado ao contexto de uma sala de estudos da Moradia Estudantil da Unicamp por meio de oficinas teórico-práticas com dois grupos distintos, um com pessoas sem conhecimento técnico em arquitetura e outro com arquitetos formados. A avaliação do sistema ocorreu pela análise das soluções elaboradas durante as oficinas e das respostas dos participantes a questionários. Os resultados demonstraram que a utilização de tipos diferentes de modularidade na personalização dimensional dos móveis, combinada à definição de intervalos de medidas, contribuiu para a personalização em série e para a flexibilidade das alternativas geradas. Além disso, verificou-se a emergência de composições e de características que superaram as limitações iniciais da interface digital empregada. Por fim, sintetiza-se o conceito de autofabricação em arquitetura, como um contraponto à autoconstrução, para a obtenção de espaços flexíveis e mais apropriados às necessidades individuais contemporâneasAbstract: The need to customize spaces varies according to changes in users' demands, especially in a building's inner layers. However, standardized furniture is often unsuitable for buildings with a reduced and rigid floor plan. Besides, restrictions on the access of the majority of the population to customized layout designs lead to conflicts of use, notably in the most everyday places, such as houses and offices. In contemporary work environments, technologies and occupants' interaction change frequently, which emphasizes the need for spatial flexibility. At the same time, the increasing availability of digital fabrication machinery and open source designs on online platforms make mass customization more accessible. In this context, computational design strategies adopted by architects and designers could enable the generation of more adequate solutions with user agency. On the other hand, solutions created with this approach tend to focus on an initial design diversity, disregarding changes over a building's life cycle. In this scenario, this master's thesis aims at developing an artifact for mass customization applied to the design and production of flexible spaces. It has a qualitative and prescriptive character, following the Design Science Research methodology. The main research product is a prototypical integrated system based on a procedure by Christopher Alexander. The system allows user-driven layout compositions, with furniture dimensional customization and digital fabrication in reduced scale, focused on work and study spaces. The artifact was applied to a study room at Unicamp's Student Housing through theoretical-practical workshops with two different groups: people without a background in architecture and trained architects. The system was evaluated through analysis of the solutions developed during the workshops and participants' responses to questionnaires. Results showed that the use of different modularity types in furniture dimensional customization, combined with the definition of measurement intervals, contributed both to mass customization and flexibility of generated alternatives. Furthermore, it provided the emergence of design compositions and characteristics that overcame the digital interface's initial limitations. Finally, the self-fabrication concept is synthetized, as a counterpoint to self-construction, as a strategy to obtain more flexible and contemporary-suited spacesMestradoArquitetura, Tecnologia e CidadeMestra em Arquitetura, Tecnologia e Cidade05-P-04795-2019CAPE