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DEGREE
Topic: The iconic potential of computational design, Shapeshifting


robotics

04 December 2006

Degree presented

Shapeshifting

Another chapter in life is over. I just finished my degree in the Digital Media Class of Prof. Joachim Sauter after studying at Berlin University of the Arts for five years.

The picture shows the prototype.

An extensive project documentation will be produced during the next months. Stay tuned.



13 November 2006

Prototype 1 – first video


Finally, here comes the first video of my prototype. It shows the deformation capabilities in 2 directions.
One servo motor is used for the extension of the ring, the other for the movement of the vertical rod. The controlling is done from Java with a Bluesmirf bluetooth module and a Pololu Micro Serial Servo Controller.
I found that the gears and wheels need to be mounted in a very exact way to create a smooth movement. Now I’m going to build the other rings to create the threedimensional shape.

» Lowres video [374×210 px, 500 Kbit/s stream]
» Highres video [1024×576 px, 4 Mbit/s stream]



05 November 2006

Construction draft 2

Construction draft 2

After thinking about the first draft a bit longer, I realized that it needs another ring in order to create a nice threedimensional shape. So the top view is based on a hexagon now.
In this draft, the steel wires are unrolled to both sides. This should work better for the symmetric change.



31 October 2006

Construction draft 1

Construction draft 1

After I stopped researching for small helicopters, I went back to my first idea of shapeshifting. Ball-like-shaped objects are supposed to be able to change their size in all three dimensions. I want to avoid the use of pneumatics, so i’m going about a mechanical construction.

The construction is a simple wireframe model of a ball, to be covered with a soft extensible cloth. This is the first attempt for the underlying mechanics.



26 September 2006

The Source

The Source

A piece that may not be missing in this research and I still admire a lot is The Source by greyworld. 162 vertical cables in the London Stock Exchange. 9 balls per cable, which results in a 3d matrix of 729 pixels (each sphere uses two cables to climb, thanks to Andrew for the hint). You got balls, guys!