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Notes, updates, inspiration, progress and process Master Digital Design studies at AUAS Amsterdam

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Swarm intelligence & slime mold

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Vignette 4: Who is your bike? (Character)

Lisa just got a new job and is moving abroad. She owns his bike called Arvin, that he used for daily commute to work. Since she cannot take it with him abroad and the new city is not very suitable for cycling he had to make the tough decision and put his bike up for adoption. In order to do that she had to fill in an extensive online questionnaire on the marketplace to describe the bike and its personality. Once the add is online she gets a weird feeling in his stomach. She is worried that he made a mistake by selling the bike, or that he did not manage to describe the bike’ s personality properly. Shee is sad but there is no other way than to sell the bike.

A couple of days later she receives a message that a guy called Jonathan is interested in buying the bike. After talking to each other the deal is made and Jonathan comes to Lisa’s place to pick up his new bike companion. Jonathan anticipates that there will be a few days in the beginning when he and the bike will have to get used to each other. However, it seems to be more complicated than he thought. It seems like the bike is way more conservative than what Lisa described to him. The bike’s worldview is very much influenced by his previous experience.

One night Jonathan goes to a birthday party of his best friend. He is having a really nice evening when all of the sudden he starts getting notifications from his bike that he should go home. Jonathan is surprised: “What is happening, it is just 11:30!” He looks out of the window down to his bike, to figure out whats wrong but everything seems to be fine. A minute later, Jonathan gets a theft alarm notification that Arvin is being moved! He runs outside only to see his bike have he left it. Jonathan checks the bike and understands the bike wants to go home. He’s upset with the bike but they compromise on going home early.

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Vignette 3: Digital connection, offline affection (Connector)

It is typical Friday morning in a year 2050 and Rose is biking to work. She is feeling under the weather lately as she does not have anyone with whom she would share her free time. All her friends are busy with their partners. She feels bit alone, since her family lives far away. The only companion is her bike whom she calls Nina. She feels that Nina really understands her and knows when Rose has had a bad or good day and can react to it accordingly. They have created a true bond and Rose would never do anything bad to her bike or get rid of it. She is always looking forward to those calming bike rides, it is like a meditation for her. This morning her bike is suggesting to take a different scenic route to inspire and cheer Rose up. Rose is very happy about it, she likes to explore new areas and corners of her city. They are biking alongside the river bank when all of the sudden something happens. Her bike has technical difficulty and cannot continue with the ride. Rose feels really bad for her bike but she does not know how to help her bike or fix it. She sees that the bike is seeking help with nearby cyclists so hopefully someone will come and help her. All of the sudden her crush appears, he is the guy she meets almost everyday on her bike to work, but she is too shy to talk to him. He looks at the bike, but there seems to be nothing wrong. Suddenly the bike is up and running again. What she did not know is that her bike did not have any technical difficulty, but was pretending to have to be able to call the guy and come to help to make them meet and talk to each other. They keep chatting for a while until they both go their separate ways. Rose was so happy that she met her crush, because otherwise she might have never had the chance to meet him, or have the courage to talk to him. And seemingly spontaneous connection is made thanks to the bike's artificial intelligence, that cares about Rose’s well-being.

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Taking pictures for vignettes 3&4

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Moodboards for vignette 3&4 comics style photoshoot

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Workshop at SOU - School of Architecture for children in Favara, Sicily - first observation notes

The workshop was held together with approximately 20 local kids that were divided into 3 groups. When playing the game kids were asked to define a characteristic of each robot personalities. We saw kids calling the bots with their names, encouraging them or calling them names because they did not do what they wanted. The antropomorphic features contributed to the fact that kids were stroking the bots fur. Some kids even said that after they stroke the bot it calmed down. This is something that was not intentionally coded in behaviour but evolved from its coded characteristics, because when the robot is in the panic mode it needs few second in the darknes to calm down. We hypothesize that when kids were stroking the bot they were also covering or limiting the source of light, therefore the bot had a chance to calm down.

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Scanning people for the photogrammetry workshop

Two people were simultaneously taking videos by walking around the person sitting on the chair.

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Assembling the robots

With the new designs of the outer shells laser cut, we have begun assembling the bots. The Arduino board is crewed to the bottom chassis plate to keep it steady in place. The bumper is attached to the chassis using the rubber bands. Initially, we were aiming at one rubberband directly from the hole to the hole on the bumper, but we did not manage to buy rubber bands with a smaller diameter, therefore we had to attach two bands from one hole going diagonally to the next hole on the bumper. 

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Assembling Introbots before the workshop in Sicily

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Screamer Creaper

When was the last time you screamed or cried out so loud without feeling it’s un-natural? In this rapidly evolving technological context, humans are slowly moving away from venting out their emotions of loss, sadness, failure, in the most natural way known to animals and humans. Through sound.

Meet Screamer Creeper, a range of digital mechanical flora buds that grows as you express yourself vocally, whether through anger, or crying out due to your loss or sadness, or even your laughter. The device has an embedded listening device that detects sounds of certain frequency and pitch associated with elevated emotions. You can visibly see the plant buds grow whilst reconnecting with your inner most thoughts and emotions.

When you haven’t vented out in a week each bud opens and sends a loud screeching sound. If you become quiet and your plant begins to lose its growth, it has a provoking character wherein the bud opens and sends out a loud screeching sound, screaming at you. The only way to stop the sound is to scream back at the plant at the buds for 10 seconds. Your plant also picks up on joyous moments, such as you singing along to your favourite song. When it hears pitch associated with cheerful emotions, the bud opens up and screeches along whilst moving its buds.

Through critical design, we asked: What happens in a world where technology is making us quieter? We talk on screens with our thumbs, we listen to music through headphones and we spend our days staring into screens. What if we were provoked to act in a way that is outside of the societal norm?

Are we urged not to vent out? To be in control of our feelings? Are screaming and shouting frowned upon? Voice, like every other sense has a purpose. It has been used to release emotional stress deep inside of us since childhood. Nonetheless, what is the role of vocal expression in society today?

The project leaves the audience with the question: What role might technology play, or not play, in supporting us to vocally express our emotions.

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Peaceful protector

Every Protest is a story of brutality on the protestors part, the police, the people and law. How do we stop this fight. How can we raise debate, exercise our right. To be, to collect, to show solidarity for what we believe in. Peaceful Protestor is a Listening Technology that listens and records everything that happens, during your protest. Police Brutality against individuals in peaceful protests and sit-ins are widely publicized and continue till date. The pervasive violent policing has built distrust at a local, everyday level. Live Streaming, social media has blasted incidents of police brutality on the digital landscape.

Meet “Protest Protector” - it’s a range of accessories with an embedded microphone, camera and (some data transferring thing) that can be worn as a piercing to record audio-visual data for 24 hours. By wearing the Protest Protector with its built in microphone & camera, your whole experience during the protest is recorded. This data gets auto updated to a cloud. Each device has a unique code, that gets activated through voice. Your voice controls the password to your cloud account. Protest Protector is your personal legal aid. This technological device makes a statement on transparency and trust on behalf of the protestor and challenges the police and system. How will you disrupt our peaceful protest when we have digital ears and eyes? The accessories are worn as an embodied piercing, creating a context of identity through this device.As technology has advanced so has the equipment of the police and their brutality. Is it time to upgrade ours?

Will this improve the imbalanced police-community relationship and inequality? Will the technological eradicate political inequalities that perpetuate these relationships sustaining distrust and frustration? Will this device, as your legal aid, lead to more peaceful protests? Will it lead to more calm. Will it lead to more sanity ? Would it stop police brutality, now that the data cannot be hampered. Will it lead to a more open society, a context where you give up a part of your privacy for the fight for justice and what you believe in?

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Pragma

The couples' relationship can be one of the most rewarding, yet challenging experiences we encounter in our lives. In an era of convenience, where the tap of a phone brings us a new potential partner, it is easy to worry about missing out or finding someone better. Our humanness complicates things further, as we crave passion and excitement, yet at the same time desire lasting attachment.

Meet “Pragma” - a smart A.I. assistant that uses machine learning to understand you and your partner. Pragma supports couples by addressing one of the vital aspects of a relationship, communication. By wearing the Pragma ring with its built-in microphone, conversations with your partner are recorded and analysed. The earpiece then sends advice to enhance your relationship, leading towards the respect, honesty, kindness, and openness we need to thrive.

Through critical design, we asked: We have dating platforms that assist us in finding a perfect “match” using complex algorithms and instantaneous communication, but is this convenient approach the answer to find long-lasting intimacy? Can the complex psycho-dynamics of intimate relationships be boiled down to 0’s and 1’s?

We have an overabundance of online information reporting the do’s and don’ts of “good” relationships. Is this leading us to loosing touch with our own intuitions? Our own tastes? What happens when we can’t be ourselves in a relationship?

Will recording our private conversations with our partners lead us to a deeper understanding of who they are? Or will it lead us to become more distant? Will we believe the recordings more than the person in front of us speaking? If this data is being fed to an assistant, is it safe? If we break up, will our partner use our conversations against us? Could this data be monetized?

Do we want an algorithmic assistant observing our intimate relationships? It promises to send advice to enhance your relationship; will we trust a machines advice more than our own friends and family? Will there still be room for spontaneity? The project leaves the audience with the question: What role might A.I. and technology play, or not play, in the development of our own intimate relationships?

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Raw cutting the video footage from yesterday

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Laser cutting all 6 robots 

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Shooting video for one of the vignettes

Shooting scenes for the vignette about a partnership between bike and its user that needs to be fixed. How will this look in the future when your bike is your partner. What if in the future of emotional intelligent developed AI systems, you will have a similar relationship with our bike like we have now with our pets.

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AI or Die? Redefining what it means to be human in the digital age - TNW Conference talk by ALIX RÜBSAAM

There is a correlation between the technology of the certain time and ourselves of a certain time. What it means to be human is shaped by current tech (computation processing/computer). For example: when asked, neurosciences could not explain brain without linguistics of information processes - “I cant process it” “They are wired differently” “I can save it myself”

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Andrew Keen's view on AI and agency

Andrew Keen on how to fix the future: “AI challenges our agency. How do we define ourselves and our agency in this new world? Having agency is what makes us human- it distinguishes us from machines..”