Architec Tradure

Category: research and technology.

  • 19MarYour umbrella is your better sword!

    As a child I empowered my toys with all kinds of will of their own. We all have one day stood up on a chair pretending it was a boat crossing Niagara Falls. Well Yuichiro Katsumoto did it. He creates objects that become anything you want with noises. By combining common household commodities with computers, Yuichiro Katsumoto works on ubiquitous computing. He created a set of daily objects that give our everyday lives a whimsical spin.



    He created Amagatana an umbrella for enjoying a blissful walk after a rain.

    Amagatana is a mystical sword for enjoying the blithe feeling after the rain. When you swing Amagatana, you can hear the sound of swords clashing from the headphone. Amagatana seems to be just a plastic umbrella. You also seem just like a cheerful person when you are playing Amagatana. However, the umbrella exists beautifully in your hand as a “sword”. On your way home, Amagatana offers you the world of make-believe. Then, you will be able to get a feel for heroes of comics, cartoon, and video games. It’s your own pleasure, which nobody can notice.

    He also created Fula, a muffler for warming the user’s body and soul on a cold winter’s day. Ordinary mufflers protect our body against the cold by blocking the cold air. However, Fula warms the user by encouraging him to physically move, by fluttering its fabric in a superhero-like manner in response to the user’s muscular contractions. Through acting in accordance to the flutter, the user can warm his body, and by seeing the reflection of his heroic self in store windows, his soul as well. Fula can also be used in conjunction with Amagatana, to have the two interact together.

    I found this awesome video on Youtube. You gotta watch this video. It is too funny.

    Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ Architectradure

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  • 15JanRapid manufactured textiles

    If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to receive the latest Architectradure’s articles in your reader or via email. Thanks for visiting!



    Macedonia Tray design by Janne Kyttanen, 2007.

    Following up on this thread about rapid prototyping and mass customized objects, Jiri Evenhuis came up with the concept of Rapid Manufactured textiles in 1999 opening new frontier of possibilities for the production of textiles in the future. The first commercial products were launched by FOC in 2005.



    City Hall, Amsterdam. Ramon Albers. 3D computer graphics enable designers and architects to envision very complex creations at … the miniature scale

    Posted by Cati Vaucelle

    ♥ Architectradure

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  • 30JanTalking with owls using mobile phones

    If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to receive the latest Architectradure’s articles in your reader or via email. Thanks for visiting!

    This project explores technologies to augment our understanding of bird populations in order to allow these populations to speak to us about their habitat. In particular, in a collaboration between the MIT Media Laboratory and Maine Audubon, the researchers use cellular technology to augment the process by which volunteers collect information for an annual owl survey in Maine.

    The core methodology was developed in a regional pilot census of Connecticut’s owl population demonstrating that the audio quality of cell phones is sufficient for the discovery and interaction with owls.

    In Maine, they plan to deploy cell nodes for calling and recording owls, and provide an interface for the public to vicariously participate in the census from the internet. They hope to gain insight into the social networking processes of collaborative interpretation and annotation of a shared database; and knowledge representation for the bird-census domain.

    The cellular-based survey may also provide insights into the hearing range of owls, duplication of vocalizing individual responses in adjacent experiment sites, the response rate of owls due to current weather or human presence, and comparison between trigger-based and naturally occurring responses in surveys.

    The Owl project’s web site.

    This work is created by Dale Joachim, Susan Gallo , Glorianna Davenport.

    Posted by Cati Vaucelle

    Architectradure

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  • 30JanTalking with owls using mobile phones

    If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to receive the latest Architectradure’s articles in your reader or via email. Thanks for visiting!

    This project explores technologies to augment our understanding of bird populations in order to allow these populations to speak to us about their habitat. In particular, in a collaboration between the MIT Media Laboratory and Maine Audubon, the researchers use cellular technology to augment the process by which volunteers collect information for an annual owl survey in Maine.

    The core methodology was developed in a regional pilot census of Connecticut’s owl population demonstrating that the audio quality of cell phones is sufficient for the discovery and interaction with owls.

    In Maine, they plan to deploy cell nodes for calling and recording owls, and provide an interface for the public to vicariously participate in the census from the internet. They hope to gain insight into the social networking processes of collaborative interpretation and annotation of a shared database; and knowledge representation for the bird-census domain.

    The cellular-based survey may also provide insights into the hearing range of owls, duplication of vocalizing individual responses in adjacent experiment sites, the response rate of owls due to current weather or human presence, and comparison between trigger-based and naturally occurring responses in surveys.

    The Owl project’s web site.

    This work is created by Dale Joachim, Susan Gallo , Glorianna Davenport.

    Posted by Cati Vaucelle

    ♥ Architectradure

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  • 06FebSocial Resonance: Balancing Reputation with Tangible Design

    Online data about our everyday activities is available for almost anybody who takes the time to spy on us. Everything that makes us live in the real world through emails, video, photo, blogs, online shopping, calendar, to name a few, is “trackable”. We are entirely public, our virtual identity is somewhat the shadow of our physical existence. Not talking about avatars up to anonymous content that gives us a second life on the screen, but wouldn’t that be scary to have our anonymous virtual self reflected back to us?

    The research of Alyssa Wright at MIT’s Ambient Intelligence research group directed by Pattie Maes consists of the ongoing design of a tangible reputation system, Social Resonance, that uses a wearable device to merge face-to-face interaction with online networking.

    I love her attempt to bridge a virtual identity with a “real world” one. New forms of tangible systems can be designed to leverage the strengths, and bridge the discrepancies, of reputation systems. Like its virtual counterparts, this system aims to make explicit the perspective of anonymous actors. Yet unlike online reputations, this system is negotiated through real world action and signals.

    Reputation data is mapped to an ambient display and used to preserve public readability without creating personal distress. At any state, the device is on and provides readable data. It is the shift between states, visible over time, that allows for introspection. Social Resonance attempts to map the journey, not the destination, between colors.



    Mapping resonance to 5-phase color shift

    Posted by Cati Vaucelle

    ♥ Architectradure

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  • 07FebVein Viewer

    If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to receive the latest Architectradure’s articles in your reader or via email. Thanks for visiting!

    The VeinViewer by Luminetx™ uses a combination of near-infrared light and patented technologies to image vascular structures, thus allowing physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals to clearly see accessible vasculature (or lack thereof) in real time, directly on the surface of the skin. The near-IR camera located the subcutaneous veins and project their location onto the surface of the skin.

    This technology reminds me of the device used to visualize inside a baby in the e-baby’s video.



    Screenshot of the e-baby video – 2003

    Posted by Cati Vaucelle

    ♥ Architectradure

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  • 07FebVein Viewer

    If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to receive the latest Architectradure’s articles in your reader or via email. Thanks for visiting!

    The VeinViewer by Luminetx™ uses a combination of near-infrared light and patented technologies to image vascular structures, thus allowing physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals to clearly see accessible vasculature (or lack thereof) in real time, directly on the surface of the skin. The near-IR camera located the subcutaneous veins and project their location onto the surface of the skin.

    This technology reminds me of the device used to visualize inside a baby in the e-baby’s video.



    Screenshot of the e-baby video – 2003

    Posted by Cati Vaucelle

    ♥ Architectradure

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  • 29FebAdam Boulanger, Dan Ellsey and Tod Machover at TED 2008

    If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to receive the latest Architectradure’s articles in your reader or via email. Thanks for visiting!

    Tod Machover chose scientist Adam Boulanger to live demo, at TED 2008, the latest cutting-edge research being done in his group at MIT. Tod worked for many years to invite everyone to compose music. Today Adam had the chance to present at TED his PhD’s baby with partner Dan Ellsey. I had mentioned in a previous post his research.

    Adam graduated from the prestigious Berklee’s school of music, studied medicine and worked for a few years as a music neurologist-therapist in New York. When he arrived at MIT he decided to apply his specialty in neurology to music composition. He met with Dan Ellsey who has cerebral palsy and worked together on means to compose with the Hyperscore environment at the hyperinstruments research group.

    For his research with Dan, Adam developed a head-set and supporting software so that Dan could expressively perform his hyperscore compositions as a soloist. Dan worked closely with the team to perform his songs using head movements. If you want more technical detail, I had interviewed Adam on the challenge in designing such device.

    Congratulations to the team! More info about the event on TED’s blog!


    Adam, Dan and Tod – Picture from the MIT Media Lab’s web site.

    Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ Architectradure
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  • 29FebAdam Boulanger, Dan Ellsey and Tod Machover at TED 2008

    If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to receive the latest Architectradure’s articles in your reader or via email. Thanks for visiting!

    Tod Machover chose scientist Adam Boulanger to live demo, at TED 2008, the latest cutting-edge research being done in his group at MIT. Tod worked for many years to invite everyone to compose music. Today Adam had the chance to present at TED his PhD’s baby with partner Dan Ellsey. I had mentioned in a previous post his research.

    Adam graduated from the prestigious Berklee’s school of music, studied medicine and worked for a few years as a music neurologist-therapist in New York. When he arrived at MIT he decided to apply his specialty in neurology to music composition. He met with Dan Ellsey who has cerebral palsy and worked together on means to compose with the Hyperscore environment at the hyperinstruments research group.

    For his research with Dan, Adam developed a head-set and supporting software so that Dan could expressively perform his hyperscore compositions as a soloist. Dan worked closely with the team to perform his songs using head movements. If you want more technical detail, I had interviewed Adam on the challenge in designing such device.

    Congratulations to the team! More info about the event on TED’s blog!


    Adam, Dan and Tod – Picture from the MIT Media Lab’s web site.

    Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ Architectradure
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  • 13MarThe Fizzees: Physical Electronic Energisers

    I came across the Fizzees (Physical Electronic Energisers) research project by Futurelab. Fizzees is a prototype project that enables young people to care for a ‘digital pet’ through their own physical actions. In order to nurture their digital pet, keep it healthy and grow, young people must themselves act in physically healthy ways!

    The Fizzee comes in two parts – a wristwatch-style device where the pet resides, and an unobtrusive heart monitor which straps around the chest. A sensor in the monitor measures the wearer’s heart rate, and this data is sent to the Fizzee device, which houses an accelerometer to monitor movement.

    I am not sure about the one-to-one mapping between a digital pet and a child. It also depends how the watch can be calibrated, and if there is a limit to the amount of activity! I understand why these devices could become popular especially after the Tamagotchis, and Neopets mania, but why don’t we take it the other way around?

    Wouldn’t that be awesome to have a Fizzlazy(TM) with which the more you watch TV the more your digital pet would become fat and grumpy, and that eventually it will start reading comic books, play video games and sleep until 1pm!


    Picture from the Fizzee’s report. Download the brochure here.

    Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ Architectradure
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