Fabrication and Representation Justin Baranski

[baranskifabandrep]

Google ATAP’s Project Soli

“Project Soli is using radar to enable new types of touchless interactions – one where the human hand becomes a natural, intuitive interface for our devices. The Soli sensor can track sub-millimeter motions at high speed and accuracy. It fits onto a chip, can be produced at scale, and can be used inside even small wearable devices.” https://youtu.be/0QNiZfSsPc0

Project Soli was started as a means to track the highly articulate motion of the human hand. Soli’s radar technology is sensitive enough to register the most minute gesture of the human hand and small enough to be practical in numerous applications. This technology will not only improve the way we interact with our daily technology (cell phones/computers/appliances/homes?) but will grant new opportunities in the field of gestural input based design. Furthermore, this technology could be implemented in completed designs to create responsive environments. We are approaching a point in technology where the interface will become seamless. We aren’t quite at the level of the holographic STARK computer from the Iron Man film franchise, but Project Soli provides a basis for making that type of interface possible.

[baranskifabandrep]

For this weeks exercise, I used the linear movement Grasshopper set-up to trace the outline of Batman’s Bat Symbol. I chose this shape after experimenting with more fluid, complicated curves that I was unable to maneuver the robot to complete. Is there a reason why the robot couldn’t handle the complex curve? Would increasing the number of edit points improve the accuracy of the robot’s path? 

[baranskifabandrep]

Crawford, The Jig

In The Jig, Matthew B. Crawford details the practice of building and implementing devices that standardize a step in a fabrication process. Crawford that the purpose of jigs is to:

Track the task

Figure out, remember, or notice the properties signaling what to do next

Predict the effects of actions 

By using jigs, the craftsman can isolate and eliminate errors caused by human error and other unaccounted for factors. For example, if a carpenter needs to cut a series of shelves that are all the same dimension, he would measure one and then set up a jig on the saw that would ensure precision across the set. The quality of a craftsman's work shouldn’t be based off of his ability to cut square edges freehand or talent for designing projects in his head. A good craftsman uses his knowledge to create processes to supplement his own skills and limitations. Crawford writes,  “The point is that to understand human cognition, it is a mistake to focus only on what goes on inside the skull,because our abilities are highly "scaffolded" by environmental props-by technologies and cultural practices, which become an integral part of our cognitive system.” Jigs are used across all mediums, both digital and analogue. In Rhinoceros, we set up Planes of view to set up our projects. In Illustrator, we use rulers and guides to properly align objects. Crawford claims that just as a pen and paper extend an individual's computational ability, jigs extend the capabilities of the craftsman to create quality work.

In high school, my theater department mounted a production of Les Miserables, and the set was designed with a turntable underneath. To offset the height of the turn-table, we needed to raise the deck of the stage up 4 ¼”. Over 100 identical platforms with lapping decks needed to be built by a workforce of mostly unskilled high school students in a matter of a weekend. We developed a jig that would hold the 2”x4” framework square and evenly spaced from the sides. One team used a jigged set of circular saws to cut the framework, while another inserted the boards into the jig. The assembled framework would then be removed from the jig and set into another jig which would properly position the framework underneath the plywood decking for attachment. Due to the implementation of jigging, a group of 30 and change untrained high schoolers accurately cranked out weeks worth of work in 2 days.

[iantomashik-blog]

Nyan Cat (By Mitey)

This project encountered several setbacks, including robot malfunctions, file issues and group logistical issues. The Kuka’s are very finicky, clunky and slow machines that require great finesse to operate successfully. However, as shown in the photo above, our group still succeeded in recreating an internet spectacle through the light-brite exercise. 

[baranskifabandrep]

Fun with robots. #fabandrep #twoKays

[duan333]

Arduino work: we created a 1-ply museum board window aperture that opens and closes with the swivel of a tab. We mounted both the aperture and servo arm onto a basswood table, adding jig arms and plinths to get the two units level.

Adjusted the delay time, waited for the right moment to drop the tab onto the servo arm…… and then it broke. Completely. In retrospect, we blame the material (1-ply museum board). It was too flimsy to withstand the resistance of the servo arm, and tore incredibly easily. 

If we were to do this again, it would be helpful to consider the size of the servo arm before designing a larger aperture. Also, sturdier material is always a good thing.

(See videos to watch it break)

[duan333]

the tragic ending of our aperture

[baranskifabandrep]

Degeneration Effect

In Degeneration Effect, Nicolas Carr brings into focus the negative side effects of automating “menial” tasks. “By isolating us from negative feedback, automation makes it harder for us to stay alert and engaged,” Carr claims. The automation of these simpler tasks creates ability without understanding the mechanisms of how that ability functions, and while this may seem advantageous, in the interest of economy, it dulls the craftsman’s skills through lack of problem solving opportunities. Carr states that the brain grows only through “repeated confrontations with the unexpected.”

It's easy to fall for the romantic idealism of Alfred North Whitehead’s quote at the beginning of this piece, as most of us would like to save our thoughts for the few “cavalry charges” worthy of our intelligence. But with the danger of the degeneration effect looming behind every automated process, where can the line be drawn? If total automation will lead to too few problem solving experiences, and the opposite will provide too few opportunities for higher thought/expression, than the optimum level of automation lies in the middle. Carr claims that programs that require a basic understanding of how they function lead to a better understanding of how to craft the overall product and promote a better understanding of how to articulate more intricate concepts. Understanding leads to control leads to agency.

[baranskifabandrep]

Robots (introduction)

In his introduction to Robots, James Keramas describes the evolution of robotic capabilities and their application in various types of manufacturing processes. Initially, robots were used to complete tasks deemed too dangerous or menial for human involvement. The ability to automate robots to complete human tasks not only improved worker safety and morale but allowed products to be produced more efficiently. The exciting prospect that this article illustrates is the possibility for robots to be expanded beyond the point of replicating human processes. Through computer automation robots can do more than replicate human tasks, they can streamline them.  A robot can work with precision, agility, and dexterity that cannot be matched by human input. Just as early CAD programs sought to replicate the analogue drawing techniques used by architects and engineers as a base point, robotics and automation started at a similarly humble beginning, replicating tasks completed in analogue. But just as CAD and other design software evolved into programs like Rhino, Revvit, and Sculptris, robotics are evolving not just to replicate human capabilities but to extend and supplement the limited scope of human craft. The possibilities for design have exploded with the potential granted by CAD systems, why should I similar revolution occur with manufacturing robotics?

[baranskifabandrep]

Situated Knowledges

I personally had a really hard time picking through the verbose language and confusing style of this piece, but Mitch’s lecture and our discussion today granted some clarity.

In Situated Knowledges, Haraway seeks to debunk the myth of ‘objectivity’ as an unbiased truth, instead positing that the origin of “scientific fact” lies not in reality, but in the often misinformed work of affluent white male scientists. This definition of truth seeks to define all eventualities, believing it is finite and all encompassing. Haraway argues that this type of thinking is not only close minded but dangerously limiting and oppressive, particularly to less advantaged groups. It is the social hierarchal rank of these truthmakers that give their knowledge authority, when in reality their “facts” are not always as objective as they claim to be. As Haraway sees it, objectivity cannot be clearly defined because the “fact” and “truth” they are based on are entirely subjective.  

[duan333]

Figuring out arduino. Several technical difficulties at first: finding the “upload” command, selecting the proper settings, and plugging into the breadboard. Settled easily into the process after that.

Both blink sketches were straightforward. The motor was the most entertaining with its mini, minute motions. Attempted to plug in the breadboard and run the rangefinder, but the distance kept coming up as a static 350-358, despite frantically moving hands in front of it.

As for brainstorming mechanisms, our group is playing with the idea of an origami cocoon or frog. With the cocoon, the servo arm could expand and collapse it. With the frog, the servo arm could move its mouth up and down.

More to come later.

[duan333]

[baranskifabandrep]

CNC Milled Surface (complete)

[baranskifabandrep]

CNC Milling (in process)

[baranskifabandrep]

Manufacturing Material Effects

In Manufacturing Material Effects, Kolarevic argues that digital design and fabrication is less of a manufacturing process and more of a craft. Due to the lack of physical interaction, digital design and fabrication are widely (and mistakenly) viewed as an autonomous process, however this is hardly the case. Last week Malcolm stated that a glass blower can’t physically interact with the materials he creates with, but is able to utilize tools to manipulate the medium. The same goes for digital design; the operator utilizes the software to generate and represent designs in a way that he couldn’t without the tool’s assistance. No one would question that glassblowing is a craft so why question if digital design and fabrication is.

Another stipulation Kolarevic makes is that manufacturing generates a predetermined product while craft is less standard. The risk of human involvement, as he describes it, produces products marked by the human authorship of their creators. The same is true of digital design in that the creators input, coupled with the computer’s tools are utilized to make something less standardized than a manufactured artifact.  

I thought this reading served as a nice counterpoint to last week’s reading about representation, and the separation of architect from final product. The involvement of the architect in the generation of digital design can be visibly seen in the work, just as the mark of the craftsman's tools on his work bear witness to his effort. I feel that within the discipline there is a certain stigma against digitally generated designs and at some level even digitally fabricated models. I feel that this bias against laser cutting, 3D printing and producing through programs like Revvit and Grasshopper, is evident of the sentiment that digital design is a “manufacturing” process, when in fact, like any craft, the human authorship remains recognizable and dominant.

[architectureunleashed]

The Projective Cast

Robin Evans in his book “The Projective Cast” identifies the inconsistencies of the physical world of geometries in architecture and our visual perceptions that we create or see. He urges architects not to be completely dependent on pictures, for they are “fixations within a metamorphic flux of possible experiences.” In the same sense Even’s brings up that geometry is “ideal and not real,” which can be understood as us only being able to perceive space as a perfect geometry due to our visual perceptions of the world that we have created. This prompts me to think about expectations versus reality, specifically when we are creating renderings for potential architecture works. For example, an art installation in Flint Michigan chosen because of its beautiful renderings but by the completion of its construction the installation looked nothing like the renderings that were provided. Was the disastrous outcome of the project due to the reliance on renderings or pictures for the selection of the project?

[baranskifabandrep]

oh no....

[baranskifabandrep]

Lightsaber Substitutions