Saturday 27 September 2008

OPEN-SOURCE INVITATION / LEGO MINDSTORMS





OPEN SOURCE EXPERIMENT
The click-raft is an on-going experiment which i am keen to invite all who are interested to participate in an open-source experiment to help evolve a completely new kind of autonomous live/work mini architecture. This is no easy or simple task and will take numerous 'design hackers' to try out different options or configurations...
... I'm interested especially in students (young + old), people who like to tinker, universities, research institutions, and companies willing to explore the click-raft concept and to really push this thing around, to see what might be possible with this way of thinking... its time for architecture to become more useful and accessible, cheaper, quicker, lighter, and smarter, its time for architecture to be completely re-invented !

LEGO MINDSTORMS ROBOTICS
For example, what i didn't mention until now regarding the concept is that it is much more than simply based on standard CNC panel flat pack self-assembly potentials that are interesting in the click-raft...
.... it should be understood like a lego kit. You can build it like the instructions suggest or you can see all the bits as an open system that enables a huge range of possibilities.....
.... I have already given the click-raft two very different kinds of shapes... the one you see here is just one...

.... like super large lego pieces the idea is to add lego mindstorms robotics into the mix, to operate and manage the click-raft's weather skin, energy use, water use etc using the mindstorms nxt software (which 10 year old kids can operate) to program sensors to respond to light, temperature, windspeed and so on then to use the micro-processors to instruct the servo motors to adjust the louvres, screens and blinds to open or close, orientate to the sun or away just as tree leaves can do and thus enable the click-raft to respond just as plants do to the changing conditions around it of night and day, summer and winter, rain or shine, cold or hot through providing different degrees of transparency, openness, ventilation, humidity etc.

... this clickable dwelling could learn to adjust with the seasons, to close up at night, and open to a sunny morning, even to dance, breathe, or simply flap its leaves

No comments:

 
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 New Zealand License.