Etc.

For more information on Smartsurfaces visit www.smartsurfaces.net.

Reflection

Looking back on the semester, it was an overall success. Though our final project didn't work as well as intended, I learned a lot and gained several influential experiences.

Working within interdisciplinary teams, I gained useful insight into the collaborative workplace, and myself as an individual and team member. Now I better understand the type of personalities with whom I work well. As far as personalities with whom I don't work well, I've learned coping strategies, and noted signs to avoid in the future.

I have a better idea of what a $3,000 project might look like, and a better idea of how to potentially acquire such funding.

From LEDs and motors to algae and forms rich in metaphor, Smartsurfaces encompassed a diversity of topics as rich as the people involved (not monetarily of course, though the class was well funded).

C'est fin.

Exposure: The Finale

The aquarium light, meant to mimic the circadian rhythm of the algae thus keeping it alive, created an interesting, eery lighting when shone on the piece. Unfortunately, the light in the gallery was too difficult to control. Without covering the piece with a blanket or curtain, the area couldn't get dark enough for the 12 hour period necessary to sustain the organisms.

In the end, the mechanism we chose to create movement was not the most effective. The cams on the end of the motors we able to fall out of alignment with the panels, and were to weak to create the intended motion.

I find the overall form of the piece to be intriguing, intertwined with organisms and metaphors. Algae organisms are living within IV bags, typically used to aid human life support. The acrylic panels that house the IV bags are organisms themselves.

Exposure uses solar energy in two ways, one direct, and one indirect. Through photosynthesis the bioluminescent algae use solar energy to directly create blue glowing light. Indirectly, photovoltaic cells use solar energy, converted into electricity, to power the motors that generate the movement within the piece. The ladder only exists only in theory, seeing as how the final destination of Exposure is an indoor gallery.

Our team definitely had it's ups and downs, but we made it through to the end. We all learned important lessons about the design process surrounding collaboration, the collaboration surrounding the design process, and the need to prototype. When all is said and done the most learning happens during building. Decisions can't be changed until they are made, and are often not made until they have been physically realized.

Some thoughts I take away:

The night of installation is too late to make game changing decisions, if there is no time to build anything.

It is ok to rely on group members.

Be prepared to suffer consequences.

If you are sure something needs to get done, but are unsure if it will, do it yourself.

Don't believe everything you are told.

6 heads are not always better.

Pipes=circuits

Water=electricity

Taking care of living organisms is stressful.

Dedication is not always a good thing.

Truth worlds do exist.

Algae Transfer

One night before the final installation Laura and I began transferring the algae organisms into our pre-prepared IV bags. Working within the circadian rhythm of the algae, we waited until the light cycle to begin the operation. It didn't take long for us to put together a system, and after several hours we had 50 bags filled.

I laid out a blanket for the little guys so they wouldn't get too cold on the cement floor.

What the hell is going on?

Bioluminescent algae and IV bags? I keep explaining what's been happening, assembling a system of IV bags and algae, but what the hell is really going on? What was the one post with moving cardboard panels? I'm not so sure I've made myself clear. Here is a quick abstract that explains our project, Exposure, and our intentions:

Rather than using solar cells to convert sunlight into electrical energy, we are concerned with using the power of the sun in a more direct way. Exposure is a biological, heliotropic lighting system powered by photosynthesis. Living inside the piece are several Dinoflagellates, Pyrocystis fusiformis, aka bioluminescent algae. The bioluminescence of the organisms are set to a biological clock quite similar to our sleep cycle. During 12 hours of daylight Pyrocystis use the available light to photosynthesize, producing their own food and oxygen. At sunset the cells produce the chemicals that cause the luminescent reaction. If agitated during their 12-hour dark cycle, the algae give off a glowing blue light. In Exposure we have harvested several bioluminescent algae organisms, and embedded them into an architectural array. Within the array, varying panel heights correspond to the density of algae organisms contained in each unit. Infrared sensors located below the panels detect human presence, and trigger a motor. Attached to the motors, a cam makes contact with the panels creating enough motion to agitate the algae and expose their bioluminescent glow.

We've seen the algae and the IV bags... below are some digital images that show the overall form, eventually to be made out of acrylic via CNC routing.

We began with a single profile. Using several panels with slight variation creates a voluminous form. The rigidity of the single panels stifled the potential movement within the array. In order to loosen it up, we added a second profile.

Hanging the lower panel from the upper, when one swings, so does the other. The hope is that the movement among the panels will be enough to agitate the algae living in the IV bags embedded within the acrylic array. The blue in the image below represents the introduction of the algae organisms into the form.

Other than the testing on cardboard, the movement of the actual pieces was not tested before installation. Unfortunately, there were unforeseen delays with routing, and coding and motors weren't communicating.

Long Awaited Algae Footage

I spent a little bit of time trying to document the algae and found some success. The amount of ambient light in the room determines whether or not the camera will pick up the light. These videos are pretty rough, but they show the algae glowing at different brightnesses.

This is just me flicking the plastic bottle they are currently living in. There are much more effective and controllable ways of agitating the algae. I like this video because about half-way through I was able to get a really bright flash.

I apologize for the camera handling.

The IV bags continue to be prepped for the algae. Laura stuck a piece of tubing into each one, and I sealed the connection with silicon.

As the gallery became available we moved right in and started hanging our frame.

With less than 3 days to go we're are on a steady track. Its crunch time.

All the Single Ladies

Being a single mother is a tough job. Yesterday we received another batch of algae from the helpful folks at Sunnyside Sea Farms. Because our algae is not growing as quickly as we thought it might, we wanted to make sure we have enough to produce the desired effect. So we ordered 4 liters.

These little guys arrived in 4 1L bottles and were highly concentrated. Because the organisms are tropical, there was some concern in having them delivered to our 38º Michigan weather. When the bottles arrived they were quite cold, so I rushed home and turned on the heater. Apparently I had underestimated the amount of algae we were actually receiving. This sounds dumb because I knew we had ordered 4L.... but I hadn't thought about the amount of space they needed. Before the arrival I had prepared 4 2L bottles half full with salt water (specific gravity 1.019). When I added the algae to the bottles they were full. Hmm. I don't think this is good.

Tonight I am going to prepare 4 more 2L bottles and spread the guys out a bit. Just having the algae in my room stresses me out. I'm sure that I have done everything to take care of them, but the more we have the harder it gets. And we just asked John Marshall to order us 3-4 more liters! AHHHH! This is definitely becoming a two person job. We want to make sure we have enough algae to really wow the crowd, but we don't want to have too much to take care of.

IV Bags and Pumps

Specific gravity of saline solution=1.008. Specific gravity needed for algae=1.019. Translation: we must empty all of the IV bags, mix a new batch of sea water solution, and then get that solution and the algae back into the bags.

So far we are optimistic. During a brief meeting we ran some tests with the pump we currently have. For our final piece we have ordered a pump with four out puts, rather than one. We plan to create a system of tubes and splitters in order to spread bubbles throughout our algae array.

Pump/IV bag test:

Though very exciting, the only real success here was fitting the two tubes together. If this were to continue much longer, the bag would be full of air and we would have to squeeze it out like you see in the beginning of the video.

To fix this problem we snipped the tip of off the other tube and stuck more tubing through until it reached the air at the top of the bag.

The curvaceous nature of the tubing caused us a little bit of worry. In order to keep it from moving back into the solution we added a coffee straw into the middle of the tubing.

Next, we need to get the splitters into action and see if we can get bubbles flowing through a series of bags. Until then I will be making preparations for the arrival of the algae. The rigid Michigan weather may prove a threat to our tropical friends, we will soon see. Also, we need not forgot that in the gallery we will need a way to keep the algae in darkness for a twelve hour cycle.

Our panels will be cut later this week at which time we will have the information needed to complete our motorized moving mechanism.

The count down continues!

Pulleys and Release Mechanisms

We needed to make some progress with our form, so we whipped together a quick cardboard prototype. At first we were testing movement by swinging them against each other, side to side. This looked unintentional and was rather impossible to control. Prof. John Marshall mentioned that the duality in the form looked like a joint, and suggested that we explore the movement in terms of this interpretation. By rigging up a pulley system with string and human power we began exploring this idea.

This worked great, but the system needs to be self contained. Ideas were thrown around, winches, spools, gears, releasing mechanisms.... and we came up with this:

By shaving off part of the gear, we were able to create a release mechanism. When the larger gear (connected to the panel) came in contact with the bare area of the small gear, the weight of the panel will cause the large gear to drop, or release. I drew up a few ways to possibly create smoother movement.

Mother Algae

Having received our bioluminescent specimen on Friday November 6th it is about time I give an update. Sunnyside Sea Farms in Santa Barbra, CA sent us over (3) 5mL bags of very beautiful and very delicate Bioluminescent Dinoflagellates, aka Pyrocysts fusiformis, or "Lights from the Sea" which until now we have been calling bioluminescent algae, and most likely will continue to call it such.

I am the fortunate occupant of a very warm bedroom so I took the tropical little guys home with me. After their exciting trip across the country I let the algae rest for a 24 hour cycle, 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark. Once I felt they had enough time to settle from shipping I gave their bags a little poke. To my delight the specimen were very much alive, and gave off a beautiful blue glow. Immediately I began learning about them. I was able to identify what was algae and what was not(maybe this seems obvious but they are very difficult to see during the day). Poking the bags once more I noticed that they glowed for a shorter period of time. Waiting for longer before the third poke seemed to let them regenerate and they glowed as bright and for as long as the first time.

The specimen held up just fine in their original worlds for a couple days, but we wanted to give them room to grow. In order to do so, I prepared two 2L bottles full of sea-saltwater (specific gravity of 1.019) with a little bit of micro algae grow. Being that it was my fist time dealing with specific gravities and hydrometers I began with a bit of difficulty, but by the second batch I had it figured out pretty well. To help ensure a safe transfer I left the two bottles of saltwater in the same room as the algae for the night (their day) in order to get the solutions to the same room temp, and prevent shock.

I am proud to say that the transfer went swimmingly, and the algae have survived beyond it. At first I was nervous to make the transfer during their night cycle because it meant doing so in the dark. However, everything went well and it was quite a spectacle. As I poured the algae into the new solution they glowed. The stream of glowing algae twisted and twirled as it penetrated the saltwater solution. It was truly beautiful. Unfortunately, I have encountered much difficulty and little to no triumph in my attempts to document the glow of the algae.

Becoming Team Slime

Coming to terms with reality, we have redesigned and simplified our approach to the final task. Having only 38 days until the grande finale (thanks to John Marshall for the ticking reminder), and accepting the fact that whatever our product is will exist inside a gallery we have abandoned the algae powered helibot. However, we have not jumped off of the algae train. It was proposed that we farm and harvest algae for combustible biofuel, rather than attempt to extract hydrogen for live fuel. A framework, modules containing algae, and heliotropic surfaces would create a system in which the algae would have maximized potential for growth. Because algae reproduces at a considerable rate, the system would include a dumping mechanism, or means of algae removal. This might involve human interaction. To enhance this interaction and add spectacle, a sensory mechanism will reveal the removal portal when approached.

As with all ideas, this one was met with some hesitation. Admittedly I wanted a little something more. Dumping the algae and taking it to another destination to be burned and used to fuel some unknown thing is not the ideal outcome I had envisioned. There was little disagreement that ideally we would be creating a closed system.

I try to operate under a set of unwritten rules as far as teamwork goes. One of these rules goes that if you are unhappy with a decision or plan to disagree with an idea you should only do so if you are able to articulate what is wrong or bad with what is being proposed, and in turn have an alternative solution or idea. Team 4 addressed the need for this rule in their presentation on Friday. So, being that I wasn't totally happy with the proposal I worked through the rule. I wasn't fully on board with the plan because I felt it lacked closure. Not only is the system somewhat open, but the end is undetermined. Then I had an Aha! moment. During the day (12 hrs of sunlight) bio-luminecent algae produces energy through photosynthesis, and at night (12 hrs of darkness) it glows blue, much like the lights on the emergency phone stations throughout campus.

For sake of prototyping we have requested strains of both green algae (unspecified) and of bio-luminescent algae.

On a side note- only 4 members of the team were present at the time of this proposal... Tomorrow we will see how it is received. I am excited to continue the evolution of our project and even more so to begin developing a physical model.

Reverse Brainstorming

During Eugene Shteyn's visit we participated in what he calls reverse brainstorming.

These images show the 70 problems we came up with somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes.

My Short Term List: 15, 17, 62, 70, 13, 35, 44, 3, 68, 24

My Long Term List: 65, 59, 58, 1, 18, 42, 45, 46, 20, 28

The teams Top Three:

Short Term: 70, 10/13, 9

Long Term: 20, 28, 59

Then we talked about three important factors of our project, size, time and cost.

Humans have the tendency to make things that are big enough for them to hold, or carry, and often at the size that would be considered "humanscale". This is close to the size I was planning for our robot.

We discussed the possibility of scaling the object down. If there were several very small bots, what would the project be? What if the bot was larger, the size of the city? It could become a bioreactor power plant. A living, breathing, green mass... constantly reproducing and expanding.

Final Task

On the day that Julian Bleecker visited we also received our final task and team.

Requirements:

Project-Each team is required to design, build, program and test a 'heliotropic smartsurface' that makes use of:

• Solar Energy Harvesting
• Microcontroller programming (Arduino) and circuit building
• Parametric modeling (Digital Project)
• Digital Fabrication

Team 3: David/Ivan/Isaac/Aidan/Laura

Brainstorm Session #1

Brainstorm Session #2:

• What are we trying to do?
• What does it look like?

Smartsurfaces can....

• Do the job for you
• Create smoother interface
• Create dialogue
• Create characters/fictitious life
• Create/allow for understanding/education
• Expand
• Contract
• Distort
• Move
• React
• Light up
• Create shelter
• Sense (the environment and factors of it)
• And many more....

So far we've seen surfaces that...

• track the sun
• reflect the sun
• concentrate the sun
• shade the sun
• inflate
• have and aperture (open and close)
• expand
• have layers
• direct the sun

From here we began working on a heliotropic clean water system. It involved an ant farm like structure that exposed a purifying system of layered aggregates. The goal was to provide clean water, either to the public or creating a closed system within a building. Additionally, the transparency of the system would serve as an educational element.

We were quickly deferred from this idea. It became obvious that most groups were suffering because they were not operating within the constraints. The objective is to make a heliotropic smartsurface... not to solve the worlds clean water crisis. Therefore, we went back to the drawing board.

Team Brainstorming Session #3:

From here we moved forward with the working concept of an algae powered "heliobot". Essentially we would be creating a robot containing algae. Through photosynthesis a particular strain of algae, C. reinhardtii, produces hydrogen that would be captured in a fuel cell and used to power the robots movement. More on this strain of algae can be found here.

Getting Down to work....

We seemed to have a hard time getting together over these past two weeks. When talking about group work in class, the professors informed us of the reason we are in teams of 6. Apparently studies have shown that teams of 5 to 6 work better than smaller teams. In groups of 5 to 6 there is more room for subgroups and fresh ideas. This has proven to be true. After having three meetings with 4 or less members present we had not gotten very far.

Finally, with a 5th member present we were able to move forward.

Here Aidan is hard at work on our sketch model robot. We used parts from some sort of erector set and a SmartWater bottle for assembly. The robots front legs, controlled by motors, pull the robot forward, dragging its' wheeled rear-side behind.

Fiction vs. Reality

After listening to the lecture of visitor Julian Bleecker I began to think differently about some of the language I was using with my group.

Our physical (presentable) project was only a model, given that in "real life" polystyrene and servos would be replaced by other materials and possible mechanisms. I kept using the term real life to describe the intended application (what some might call overall concept) of our project.

Julian said something about using fiction to test... (I don't want to say anymore before I check my source. Sometimes I wish I had a notebook and pencil attached to my side) I felt like this is exactly what we are doing, setting up a fictional scenario to test a possible real-life application.

...if what we have created is a fictional scenario, then have we created a fictional object?

Is it possible that our model is fiction, and what it represents is reality? (I say reality rather than fact because there might faults (impossibilities) in our proposal)

However John brought up a good point, why are we calling the model fiction when in fact it is the only piece of the project that exists in our reality...?

Testing and Finalizing

Moving forward with our project meant lots of cutting... laser cut acrylic, several polystyrene strips, and tangles of fishing line.

After testing the torque of the stepper motor against the string and panels we realized it wouldn't suffice. Servos were able to pull four units pretty well, so we put three on each side of the acrylic board. We used MDF to secure the servos and as a base for the Arduino boards.

*For reference, a panel is one of the small strips, one unit consists of 4 panels. There are 12 units per bay.

I like this video clip because it shows a successful moment as well as our motive to remain within a time line.

Back to the Drawing Board

Task 4: Models and Direction

We have narrowed our approach leaving behind the idea of a moving garden bed. It seems that we have arrived upon an agreeable form, at least for the moment. After talking about flexible materials for model making I went rummaging through scrap material and found a healthy supply of polystyrene strips. Substituting the flexible plastic for bimetal or memory shape alloy we made a quick sketch model in order to map out the movement and better understand what we are doing and why.

We began to apply this movement to a building and soon realized we were not all on the same page.

It may be getting late in the game, but we need to go back to the drawing board- and show each other what we are thinking rather than just talking about it.

Task 4

Objectives:

This exercise prompts you to propose, develop, deconstruct and implement and idea based on the principles of an interactive, heliotropic smartsurface. The smartsurface concept should constitute a set of functionalities that otherwise exist in 3-dimenstional space, collapsed into an ostensibly 2-dimenstional space, thereby gaining additional functionality and/or appeal.

Task 4 seems to be even more open ended than the previous tasks. However, by revisiting the objective after a week of brainstorming and sketch modeling, I am reminded of a very helpful constraint. Looking back at your goals with fresh eyes can be one of the most important and influential steps in the process of design. This allows you to carry forward with more defined and realized intention.

Our group started with a whirlwind of brainstorming. As prompted by our professors we left no idea off our list, no possibility was considered impossible.

..but eventually we had to cross a few things out, for the sake of narrowing our goal.

After presenting three potential problems/solutions to the class we began working on a synthesis of our two most intriguing and innovative approaches.

One of these approaches was to create some sort of surface or bed upon which a garden could be grown in an urban environment, for example on top of a roof. This is an already existing practice, however we are seeking to maximize the potential application. Say you live in a city apartment building and your apartment association would like to start a garden on the building's roof. You have plenty of money and everything you need to get going. Of course there is one problem, the skyscraper next door shades your building for a considerable portion of the day. Our surface would mimic the properties of the plants growing atop (and maybe in/through) them, and would move in some way to locate the sun, and follow it thereafter. Being an inherently site specific design the surface could be programmed for the fixed interference.

The second was inspired by venetian blinds. In this approach our main objective was distributing natural sunlight throughout a building. How could we use a surface to channel sunlight into the basement of a building? Things like fiber optics and light tubes do this already, but we are interested in a kind of passive surface... perhaps one that the user can call upon actively? Maybe with the flick of a switch we can "turn on the sun".

Task 3 / Homework 3

Still building on our arduino knowledge, this week adding modeling software Digital Project into the mix.

Objective:

You are to make a heliotropic field that is responsive to the movement of the sun. Use this project to build on previous work and to refine your understanding of a heliotropic system. Is it possible that the shadow of one cell might affect its neighbor? Is it possible for cells to work together to share the available sunlight?

For presentation:

-Digital Project model and animation

-Operational prototype of 3 working / related cells.

Our group worked really well together this week. We met briefly after receiving our assignment on friday and then broke up for some independent brainstorming. On sunday we met for a brief team brainstorm where we were able to agree upon a design an delegate work to get this thing started.

My main job was to build the physical model and work out the movement. After making a rough sketch model Josiah Damien and I met to get the arduino hooked up and test the movement. We worked things out and I was off to clean up and expand our model.

Replacing what were originally t-pins with round headed sewing pins we made awesome Macgyver-esque ball joints!

These ball joints created a great pivot point so that we were able to achieve our goal of a stationary base and separate plane moving in shear.

In this test run our movement is quite smooth. Some team members were skeptical about using rubber bands to keep the plane in tension, but by using the bands we were able to achieve the desired movement with only two (rather than four) servos. Each servo is paired with a rubber band so that when the servo returns to its starting position the plane remains in motion.

The clip below shows our final model.