Hasta La Ideas

This 3D-printed chaise longue by architect, designer and MIT professor Neri Oxman features 44 different composite materials inside a wooden enclosure, creating a multi-coloured recliner.

The first of two designs to be released by Neri Oxman, Gemini Alpha features a series of synthetic rubber-like nodules in various shades of magenta, yellow and orange in a swooping wooden frame.

“Gemini is about the complex and contradictory relationship between twins,” explained Oxman.

“This is mirrored in the geometrical forms of the two-part chaise and the dualities that drive their formation, such as the combination of natural and synthetic materials.”

The inside of Gemini Alpha is made up of a 3D-printed skin that uses three synthetic rubber-like plastics, combined to create 44 different composites.

This inner skin was produced on Stratasys‘ new Objet400 3D printer, which allows materials and colours to be combined simultaneously.

Each of the materials has a different rigidity and colour, and is arranged to cushion the user. The choice of shapes is also informed by their noise-cancelling properties.

“The chaise is designed to use curved surfaces that tend to reflect the sound inwards,” said Oxman. “The surface structure scatters the sound and reflects it into the 3D-printed skin that absorbs that sound, and creates a quiet and calm environment.”

The outer layer is made from a solid wood shell milled using a CNC machine at Le Laboratoire art and design centre in Paris. It follows the contours of the body, with a deep seat, back rest, and a curving head piece that immerses the user and helps block out sound.

Gemini Alpha was designed in collaboration with W. Craig Carter, professor at MIT‘s Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

It is currently on display at Le Laboratoire and the second piece, Gemini Beta, will be unveiled in September.

Photography is by Michel Figuet.

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forms a multi-coloured cocoon appeared first on Dezeen.

As 2013 comes to a close, we take a moment to reflect upon the hundreds of headlines that came across our desks throughout the year, which we reported on in our weekly feature, Link About It. Below are 20 articles that not only made the news, but serve as…

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Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have built a flying robot that can guide people around complex urban environments or aid search-and-rescue missions, in an attempt to show that drones can perform useful tasks as well as sinister ones (+ movie).

The SkyCall quadcopter, designed by research group Senseable City Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, acts like an electronic flying guide dog, hovering just ahead of the user and guiding them to their destination.

Yaniv Jacob Turgeman, research and development lead on the project, said SkyCall was designed to counter the sinister reputation of drones, and show they can be useful. “Our imaginations of flying sentient vehicles are filled with dystopian notions of surveillance and control, but this technology should be tasked with optimism,” he told Dezeen.

“The urban UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) will guide us in disorienting situations, support search and rescue efforts, track environmental problems, and even act as digital insects re-introducing natural biodiversity to our man-made environments,” he added. “As a networked intelligence with a physical form, the urban UAV offers an alternative interface to the digital layers of the city.”

A prototype of the SkyCall quadcopter has already been used on test missions to guide students around the MIT campus in Cambridge, USA.

Students and visitors call for a SkyCall tour guide via a customised mobile app. When the users press the ‘call’ button, the nearest vehicle locates the caller’s phone and location via GPS and sets off to meet them.

The vehicle arrives in front of the user and awaits instructions of where to go. The visitor can then type in a simple code to tell the drone where in the campus they wish to go.

The drone travels at walking speed, hovering around two metres in front of the visitor, who can press “pause” to get the drone to hold a stationary position. The drone provides information about locations it passes by “speaking” to the user via their smartphone.

“UAV technology holds huge disruptive potential,” project lead Chris Green told Dezeen. “We want to harness this and specifically explore its value to the city and its inhabitants.”

He added: “Rather than the visitor diverting their attention to a map, the autonomous guide provides an intuitive navigational system of simply ‘following’.”

Other robots featured on Dezeen recently include a flock of helicopter robots that can detect each others’ positions and join together to create a larger flying machine and a tiny robotic insect that hovers in the air like a fly.

See more robots »
See more technology »

Photographs are courtesy of MIT SENSEable City Lab.

Here’s a project description from the project team:

SkyCall by MIT SENSEable City Lab

How can we re-imagine UAV technology, to help us navigate challenging situations and complex environments? This is the premise for SkyCall – an autonomous flying quadcopter and personal tour guide – operating in one of mankind’s most difficult and disorientating labyrinths: MIT campus. We tested this technology on someone you would typically expect to be lost within MIT.

Development

Our Lab is exploring two distinct development paths of UAV technology: a quadcopter’s capacity to autonomously sense and perceive its environment, and its ability to interface and interact with people. These parallel aims steered the development of SkyCall’s tour-guide system, resulting in a platform that can efficiently locate, communicate with, and guide visitors around MIT campus, specifically along predetermined routes or towards user-determined destinations.

A custom SkyCall app was developed for human/UAV interface, enabling the visitor to make specific requests, and the UAV to both locate and wirelessly communicate with them. When the user presses the ‘call’ button, SkyCall instantaneously accesses the GPS location of the visitor’s phone and relays spatial coordinates to the nearest available UAV.

The quadcopter itself utilises onboard autopilot and GPS navigation systems with sonar sensors and WiFi connectivity (via a ground station), enabling it to fly autonomously and communicate with the user via the SkyCall app. The UAV also integrates an onboard camera as both an information gathering system (relaying images to a ‘base’ location upon encountering the user), as well as a manually-controlled camera, accessible to the visitor-come-tourist again via the SkyCall app.

Future

SkyCall is Phase I of a larger development program that is currently underway at Senseable City Lab, with the broader aim of exploring novel, positive uses of UAV technology in the urban context. This project offers a case study within our ongoing research initiative, and suggests promising new infrastructure potentials.

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MIT Senseable City Lab appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2013: Italian architect Carlo Ratti and his team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology installed three robotic bartenders in Milan last week (+ movie).

Ratti and the researchers and engineers at MIT’s Senseable City Lab collaborated with The Coca-Cola Company and rum makers Bacardi to create Makr Shakr, a bar staffed by three robotic arms that mix customised drinks.

Above: movie by MyBossWas

Visitors to the Galleria del Corso were invited to download an app to their smartphone or tablet and create their own recipe before sending it to the robots to be mixed up.

“The number of combinations is almost infinite, especially if we take into account the machine’s precision of measurement,” said Yaniv Jacob Turgeman, project leader at Senseable City Lab.

The designers also programmed the robots’ gestures by filming ballet dancer Roberto Bolle in action and using data from his movements.

The prototype Makr Shakr was being previewed ahead of its official launch at Google’s developer conference in California next month.

At last year’s Istanbul Design Biennial, Ratti programmed a printer to write out and continually update the Wikipedia entry for Open Source Architecture on the wall of the Adhocracy exhibition.

We’ve featured lots of robots on Dezeen, including a robotic arm that wound 60 kilometres of carbon and glass fibre filaments into a pavilion and a robotic 3D printer that creates architecture from sand – see all robots.

Other installations in Milan this year included Jean Nouvel’s vision of future office environments and a courtyard filled with rotating cork platforms by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec – see all stories about design at Milan 2013 .

Here’s some more information from the designers:

Researchers and engineers at MIT Senseable City Lab, Cambridge, in collaboration with The Coca-Cola Company and Barcardi rum, have designed a robotic bar, capable of preparing approximately one googol (equal to 10 power 100) crowd-sourced drink combinations. The project, called “Makr Shakr”, was developed with the endorsement of “World Expo Milano 2015 – Energy for Life. Feeding the Planet”, and will be tested during Milan Design Week (April 9-14th, 2013) before being unveiled in its final form at Google I/O in San Francisco (on May 15th, 2013).

“Digital technologies are changing the interaction between people and products,” says Carlo Ratti, director of the MIT Senseable City Lab and the design practice carlorattiassociati, Turin. “This is what we would like to do with Makr Shakr, as part of exploring the Third Industrial Revolution paradigm. People are given the power to invent their own drink recipes and digitally controlled machines make these recipes into reality. We can then enjoy the results of their production – sharing our experience and opinions with friends.” Ratti adds, “Makr Shakr aims to share this new potential – design-make-enjoy – with everyone in just a few minutes: the time taken to prepare a new cocktail.”

Users will download an app on their handheld devices and mix ingredients as virtual barmen. They can gain inspiration by viewing other users’ recipes and comments before sending in their drink of choice. The cocktail is then crafted by three robotic arms, whose movements reproduce every action of a barman – from the shaking of a Martini to the muddling of a Mojito, and even the thin slicing of a lemon garnish. Roberto Bolle, etoile dancer at La Scala in Milan and Principal Dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, along with Italian director and choreographer Marco Pelle, inspired the gestures of the robots. Roberto Bolle’s movements were filmed and used as input for the programming of the Makr Shakr robots.

The system also leverages the revolutionary, touchscreen-operated beverage dispenser, Coca-Cola Freestyle, which offers more than 100 brands at the push of a button. “Coca-Cola Freestyle represents innovation at its best, combining revolutionary technology and inspired design to deliver unprecedented choice to consumers,” said Jennifer Mann, VP and General Manager, Coca-Cola Freestyle, The Coca-Cola Company. “This collaboration is another way we continue to find new ways to bring co-creation and social sharing to the next level.”

In Makr Shakr, the social connections woven through co-creation and the relationships between ingredients and people are shown on a large display positioned behind the bar. Consumers can also share these connections, along with recipes and photos on various social network platforms.

“Pioneering spirit has been at the heart of BACARDÍ since its earliest days, starting with a revolution in rum-making to inspiring today’s most drunk cocktails, first of which is the Mojito. This project embraces the same ambition,” said Giorgio Bertolo, BACARDI Marketing Manager, Italy & France “and we are proud to partner with Coca-Cola, once again, in this cocktail making innovation, as we did in 1900 with the invention of the Cuba Libre. Furthermore, this project is an experiment from the digital world asking people to step out and connect in a real human experience around a drink, exactly as we aim to facilitate with our cocktails.”

“Leveraging the great energy of this global design event, we are excited to explore new dynamics of social creation and consumption.” says Yaniv Jacob Turgeman, project leader from MIT Senseable City Lab. “We’ve all been the home bartender at one point, and it’s a lot of fun mixing for oneself or one’s friends. Here the number of combinations is almost infinite, especially if we take into account the machine’s precision of measurement. With a domain of limitless possibility, the magic moment will be watching the formation of a bottom-up bar culture as we close the loop between co-curation and co-production in real time.”

Makr Shakr can mix both non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks. The digital design system monitors alcohol consumption and blood alcohol levels by inputting basic physical data, something beyond what a traditional barman can do. Makr Shakr promotes responsible alcohol consumption by allowing people to self-monitor their drinking. A contribution is asked for drinks being produced by the Makr Shakr, with any gain generated from the project – after production costs – being donated to the Politecnico di Torino for a student fellowship on the Third Industrial Revolution.

A press preview will be held on Tuesday, April 9th at 6pm – Terrazza Martini, 7 Piazza Armando Diaz, Milan. The public opening will follow at 8pm – Galleria del Corso, Milan. Makr Shakr will be in action everyday until April 14th, from 1pm until 11pm.

Project concept and design by MIT Senseable City Lab.
Implementation by carlorattiassociati | walter nicolino & carlo ratti.
Main partners: Coca-Cola and BACARDÍ rum.
Technical partners: Kuka, Pentagram, SuperUber.
Media partners: Domus, Wired.
Event in collaboration with Meet the Media Guru and endorsed by Comune di Milano, World Expo Milano 2015 – Energy for Life. Feeding the Planet.
Video by MyBossWas.

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MIT Senseable City Lab appeared first on Dezeen.

Researchers at MIT plan to 3D print a pavilion by imitating the way a silkworm builds its cocoon.

The research team, headed by architect and Mediated Matter Group founder Neri Oxman, attached tiny magnets to the heads of silkworms to discover how they “print” their pupal casings around themselves.

“We’ve managed to motion-track the silkworm’s movement as it is building its cocoon,” said Oxman. “Our aim was to translate the motion-capture data into a 3D printer connected to a robotic arm in order to study the biological structure in larger scales.”

The pavilion is part of a research project to explore ways of overcoming the existing limitations of additive manufacturing at architectural scales and follows recent proposals for a house made of 3D printed concrete sections and a dwelling made of prefabricated plastic elements.

Top image: colour scanning electron microscope image of the exterior surface of a silk moth cocoon. Image by Dr. James C. Weaver, Wyss Institute, Harvard University

Today’s 3D printers are mostly able to produce homogeneous materials with the same properties throughout, whereas natural materials often exhibit varying properties, or “gradients”. A silk worm, for example, is able to produce a cocoon with a tough exterior and soft interior by varying the density and pattern of the silk fibres it deposits.

“The worm rotates its head in 8-figure movements so as to allow for the distribution of silk, its density, its thickness and through these manipulations it controls its mechanical properties based on structural and environmental constraints,” says Oxman. “For instance, the inner layers of the cocoon are relatively soft while the outer layers of the cocoon are stiffer. The silkworm than varies the properties of silk according to function and can be considered the biological equivalent of a mobile 3D multi-material printer.”

The Silk Pavilion will be built using digital fabrication technologies at MIT’s Media Lab. It will be installed on 22 April and will measure around 12 feet by 12 feet.

Oxman believes that freeform printing using robotic arms has more potential for architecture than existing 3D printing systems, which use gantries that can only move in three directions and which require complex support structures to be printed at the same time to prevent the building components collapsing under their own weight.

“In traditional 3D printing the gantry-size poses an obvious limitation; it is defined by three axes and typically requires the use of support material, both of which are limiting for the designer who wishes to print in larger scales and achieve structural and material complexity” explains Oxman. “Once we place a 3D printing head on a robotic arm, we free up these limitations almost instantly.”

In the future, buildings may be constructed by swarms of tiny robots, she says. “I would argue that 3D printing is more than anything an approach for organizing material. When considered in this way it is possible to move beyond the technology and its current limitations into larger scale constructions with geometrical and material complexity.”

Oxman believes material limitations can be overcome by printing with responsive materials (which she calls “4D printing”); gantry limitations can be overcome by printing using multiple interactive robot-printers (“swarm construction”); and process limitations can be overcome by moving from layering to weaving in 3D space using a robotic arm (she calls this “CNC weaving”).

Oxman believes that in the immediate future 3D printing in construction scales can only be successful if it is to challenge traditional construction techniques while being sensitive to cultural contexts.

She adds: “Transcending the scale limitation by using larger gantries can only offer so much; but if we consider swarm construction or rebar-integrated printing we are truly pushing building construction into the 21^st century”. Mediated Matter group research assistant Steven Keating is investigating these possibilities.

The CNSilk Pavilion is being developed by the Mediated Matter group at the MIT Media Lab in collaboration with Professor Fiorenzo Omenetto at TUFTS University and Dr. James Weaver at the WYSS Institute at Harvard University.

Researchers at the Mediated Matter Group developing this work include Markus Kayser, Jared Laucks, Carlos David Gonzalez Uribe, Jorge Duro-Royo and Michal Firstenberg (Mediated Matter, MIT Media Lab).

Note: a version of this story was first published on 6 March. It has been edited and updated following feedback from MIT.

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by imitating silkworms appeared first on Dezeen.