The Parlour Automaton
by Abdulbari Kutbi
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CSA Research Report
Project Details Project Lead:
Abdulbari Kutbi
Design Tutors:
Sam McElhinney, David Di Duca
Title:
The Parlour Automaton
Type:
Research Project & Installation
Location:
UCA Canterbury Campus Reception Gallery
Project Dates:
13 August - 28 August 2015 On-Site Construction August 28/2015 - September 2/2015 Show Open to Public 7 September 2015 Take-Down
Design Period:
February 2015 - August 2015
Budget:
ÂŁ350 ~
Scale:
5m x 5m x 3m
Support:
UCA Research
Acknowledgments:
This project would not be possible without the support of many people; chiefly: My mother Ghada, for her constant financial support and belief in my mission My Wife Solafa, for her endless encouragement, reflections, and belief in my abilities
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Research Agenda and Process Overview In human vision, moving objects attract the most attention in the visual field. Upon observation, objects detected are then interpreted based on visual characteristics and more importantly on motion characteristics. Acute differences in behaviour allow an observer to construct rational explanations for object behaviour and interaction. By constructing a series of behavioural installations in the context of architecture and cybernetic behaviour, we hope to glean insights into the ways architectural habitation can constribute animatronic and behavioural entities embedded in the environmental fabric of the house and the city.
Research Questions 1.
Can we evolve a behavioural environment through distributed reactive elements?
2. By embedding low-tech behavioural reactions in domestic devices, can we provide a robust critique of the modern house? 3. Can we develop alternative narratives of habitual practices based on an exchange between user and automaton?
Fig.01 (previous page) Robotic Truss in the development stage
Research Statement
Significance and Contribution This research uses the notion of reactivity to reimagine architectural space as a behavioural cybernetic entity. At an individual level, reactive behaviours are trivial and mechanistic, reflexes that produce particular outcomes based on particular triggers. When this technology is organised within a computational or even a basic network of connections, the result is a mechanical computer of low-intelligence input/output. The project in this report presents a device that operates a two axis motion system, allowing a mirror or other planar form to move around a 5 meter radius circle generating behaviours in reaction to people.
Methodologies 1.
To develop a three axis motion system with four degrees of movement.
2. Optimize and develop exquisite detailing for constructing a robotic truss. 3. Develop a behavioural system with references to domestic conditions to represent and communicate the goals and ambitions of the work.
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Design Proposal The installation is to be composed of a spatially aware screen of wallpaper that represents humanscale motion behaviour in a radius of five meters, at the same time referencing a domestic interior.
it around and causing it to relentlessly pursue and at times push around the robot.
A low boundary will be set-up around the perimeter to prevent the robot from fleeing and Operating through the robotic allowing people to join into the truss, the entirety of the device is interaction at will. to be aware of its surrounds and proximity to people, it generates Further developments involve behaviours both cautious of refining the behaviour pattern and approaching observers and looking at the different effects of seems to want to pursue them fabric and mirroring on people’s behaviour and interaction with around its perimeter. the machine. The screen is further agitated by the presence of the Pirouetting Picket Fence, constantly chasing
Key technological outcomes of proposal 1.
The mechanical operation and control of a 5 meter long truss and panel system and the development of a code that allows behaviours to emerge.
2. The succesful development and optimisation of the robot. 3. The Design and execution of finely crafted furniture as the landscape of the installation. 4. The exquisite making of a panel and/or wallpaper screen to be mounted as the object of desire.
Fig.02 (right) Tim Lewis, Salvador Dali Writing Machine
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Proposal & Context
Design Research Context Field of Work
Work by others
Certain Behavioural projects attempt to cross the border between pure robotics and automation and domestic life. These projects present a critique of accepted notions of domestic routine within which the internet of things falls in as a way of streamlining productivity. The critical works however recast our idea of the home as a space within which behaviour is both generated and absorbed by ocupants as well as by domestic machinery (this process already occurs with pets).
References for this project include the (in)Security Camer by Ben Chang, the Nervous Toaster by Harvey and john and various other small scale interventions in the home. Larger scale works include the 2012 Dutch pavilion at the Vennice Biennale by Inside/ Outside and the Switching Labyrinth by Sam McElhinney of MUD. All of these present objects imbued with human qualities and inclined to act in that way, allowing a novel type of occupation where exchange might occur.
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Design Methodologies The methodologies employed in this design relate to some techniques which have been learned beforehand and some which are completely new. The design of a finely made lightweight truss and suspension system has been a major undertaking which involved a great deal of learnning, this was carried through a process of drawing different options, and then executing them and making all the components as mockups before fabricating a more accurate final construction.
The gearing and motorisation was developed firstly on a mock-up right suspended from the beam in the MA studio. This allowed me to develop the basic code, learn how to run things along a track and control them correctly. As well as get to grips with arduino’s, electrical components, and motor specifications and power ratings. All of these elements have been worked back and forth between design drawings and experimental making and testing, until an optimal working prototype was finalised. The quality of this project has been the variety of components involved and the works varying scales.
Critical Design Elements 1.
Truss structure and mechanical bearing
2. Gearing systems and motorisation 3. Automation, control and coding 4. Moving panel and content
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Process & Methods
Prototyping and testing a. Truss and bearing This was firstly designed as a typical truss, then more lightweight options were developed that were also more attractive and finely detailed. Finally I set upon making a suspension bridge-type truss.
the effects of weight on the inertia of the rig’s rotation. This proved to be a fine decision, allowing me to simplify the pulleys at either end and to eleminate complications with bearings and other small elements. c. The code
The first attempt was a failure to the mistake of making it out of one layer. The double layer formation however worked remarkably well, making it into the final installation.
Coding the motors had been developing ever since the test rig, with everytime including a new element. By the end we had included seperate bits of code for acceleration and deceleration, for switching the drivers on and b. Gearing and motorisation off, for acquiring data from the I had gone through two sensor and for running the track. configurations for each of the motorised systems, at track level I d. Panel and content reverted to a centralised motor to Upon suggestions by Sam and David, the panel option might become a mirror screen, for both a historical link with how we come to characterise mirros and their constant appearance in science fiction as portals to another world. As well as the provision of extra reflected space which change based on where the observer is positioned, providing for an interesting observational experience.
Fig.03 (left) The final gearbox and motor assembly for the truss
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Process & Methods
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Process & Methods
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Fig.06 (left) The truss development construction
during and
Fig.07 (right) Truss bearing box
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Process & Methods
Fabrication Techniques The main technique has been working with stressed PVC conduit, where the entire structure acts as one structural member. This required extremely fine tuning in order to get the track level and with the least amount of error for the panel to run smoothly.
a. PVC armature A diamond shaped PVC conduit construction, incorporating a top and bottom place for attaching to the tube and the track motor. b. Bearing and box Made from plywood and pine, a very archaic device employing safety stops, attachements for the truss and the cogs, a channel for running electrical wire up and down, and a spool for gathering cable as the truss rotates.
Secondly, it has been a long journey learning to use motors and gearboxes to move a massive object efficiently and robustly, this involved both analogue techniques with timber as well c. Track and shuttle as high tech. production of gears An aluminium channel of very and cogs with the correct ratios. small dimensions, which acts as the bottom member of the truss structure, effectively completing the structural triangulation of the truss. d. Panel
To be made from 15mm thin pine or plywood. Other options are being looked at to maintain a very thin profile and light weight. An Aluminium composite mirror will be attached to one end, the end face housing the electronics for the sensors.
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Process & Methods
Fig.09 Furniture layout organisational experiments
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Process & Methods
Control Systems The main control elements in the installation are thus, truss rotational control, truss balance and levelling, acceleration and deceleration, cable management, track and shuttle operation, pulleys and cables, panel weight and counterweight.
tensioning of the entire structure to level the track. As well as accurate weighting of both sides of the truss. Secondly, the correct compensation for the counterweight to maintain constant balance when in motion.
Each of these systems has taken a number of attempts to operate b. Pulleys and track motion correctly and efficiently. I here The motor has been centralised describe the main ones. so that inertia is minimalised. The track system is composed of a. Balance of the truss two double pulleys at either end, Two things are important to mounted in aluminium housings maintain the correct balance of inside the 3D printed forks. This the entire truss, firstly, accurate allows any motion of the motor to transfer into track motion. c. Gearbox and acceleration The gearing is a 45 degree bevel gear that operates through a double reduction from 13 teeth to 28 teeth. Achieving a slow but powerful delivery of power and rotation, however, acceleration and deceleration protocols are essential to prevent the entire assembly from jumping.
Fig.09a-d (left page) Images of the truss and panel components and systems
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Occupation and Interaction The interaction of people with the istallation has been facilitated by two finely tuned ultrasound sensors mounted onto the panel. Each sensor picks up the presence of objects at a particular distance and constancy, triggering the panel to react by moving away or towards something depending on the order of approaches a person makes. In practice, what may seem as an obvious and simple procedure often generates unexpected results when people are involved.
Once the installation is finalised on-location, an update to this report will be added, looking at new and novel discoveries of how the system is becoming occupied and its consequent operation. Otherwise, the careful choice and installing of the boundary graphics and objects will also influence the behaviours of people, and generate particular dispossesions with people, as all of these things will be read in different ways depending on the aesthetics represented.
Review of Outcomes
Fig.11 (left) Elevation drawing of the installation proposal Fig.12 (right) Plan of Sensor response Fig.13 (overleaf ) Perspective of Installation Proposal
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Fig.14 (left) Plan of the installation and consecutive behaviour of the elements
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Review of Outcomes
Dissemination and Future Work Once this version of the work is compelte, a press report will be prepared and potentially sent out to research conferences on the subject of art, architecture and cybernetics. Further, New and potential variations of the installation will be drawn up as proposals and sent to gallery’s looking at similiar art subjects and areas of human-machine interaction, architecture, spatial design and cybernetic systems. The work bears a degree of comment on the state of domestic life, particularly on the integration between robotics, intelligence, data and city-life; my hope is to push this work further as a tool for combining intelligence in cities and design through radical smallscale installations and proposals. Carving a niche in architectural practice as an agenda for automation and behaviour in architecture.
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Fig.15 (left) Truss installed in termporary space to test out levelling and alignment
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Appendix
Appendix Annotated Code Excerpts Excerpt from the set-up code for operating the motors and driver configurations #include <SparkFunAutoDriver.h> #include <SparkFundSPINConstants.h> #include <SPI.h> #define SLAVE_SELECT_PIN 53 // Wire this to the CSN pin #define MOSI 51 // Wire this to the SDI pin #define MISO 50 // Wire this to the SDO pin #define SCK 52 // Wire this to the CK pin #define dSPIN_RESET 6 // Wire this to the STBY line #define dSPIN_BUSYN 0 // Wire this to the BSYN line AutoDriver boardA(53, 6); AutoDriver boardB(9, 6); int CH1 = 3; int CH2 = 2; void dSPINConfig(void) { // Configurations boardA.configSyncPin(BUSY_PIN, 0);// BUSY pin low during operations; boardA.configStepMode(STEP_FS); // 0 microsteps per step boardA.setMaxSpeed(300); // 10000 steps/s max boardA.setFullSpeed(300); // microstep below 10000 steps/s boardA.setMinSpeed(50); boardA.setAcc(10000); // accelerate at 10000 steps/s/s boardA.setDec(10000); boardA.setSlewRate(SR_530V_us); // Upping the edge speed increases torque. boardA.setOCThreshold(OC_750mA); // OC threshold 750mA boardA.setPWMFreq(PWM_DIV_2, PWM_MUL_2); // 31.25kHz PWM freq boardA.setOCShutdown(OC_SD_DISABLE); // don’t shutdown on OC boardA.setVoltageComp(VS_COMP_DISABLE); // don’t compensate for motor V boardA.setSwitchMode(SW_USER); // Switch is not hard stop boardA.setOscMode(INT_16MHZ_OSCOUT_16MHZ); // for boardA, we want 16MHz
} void setup() { Serial.begin(9600); dSPINConfig(); pinMode(CH1, OUTPUT); pinMode(CH2, OUTPUT); } void loop() { digitalWrite(CH1, HIGH); digitalWrite(CH2, HIGH); Serial.println(“ping”); boardA.run(FWD, 100); boardA.run(REV, 100); }
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Materials and Suppliers List PVC Conduit (from Screwfix, Canterbury, 0500 414141 ) 3000 x 64 units of 20mm PVC Conduit Motors (from Ooznest, http://ooznest.co.uk/) Nema 23 High Torque Motor x2 Other sundries: Bolts and machine screws (Proto-Pic) Mount Hubs (Proto-Pic) Electronics (RobotShop // proto-Pic) Driver boards (SK Pang) Power Supplies (Maplin) Wallpaper and Stripwood (B&Q)
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Appendix
Bibliography Brooks, Rodney A. Cambrian Intelligence: The Early History of the New AI. London, England: The MIT Press, 1999. Clark, Andy. Supersizing the Mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Gage, Stephen. “How to design a black and white box.” Kybernetes, 36 (9-10), 2007: 1329-1339. Frazer, John. An Evolutionary Architecture. London: Thames VII, 1995. Glanville, Ranulph. “An intelligent architecture.” Convergence 7 (2), 2001: 12-24. Paul, Chanda. “Morphology and Computation.” From animals to animats: Proceedings of the eighth international conference on the simulation of adaptive behavior. Los Angeles: MIT Press, 2004. 33-38. Rosenblueth, Arturo, Norbert Wiener, and Julian Bigelow. “Behaviour, Purpose and Teleology.” Philosophy of Science 10, no. 1 (1943): 18-24.
Image Credits All figures are copyright the author unless noted as follows: Figure 02 Lewis, Tim (2012) Salvador Dali Writing Machine [Photograph] At:http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/gallery/9510/1/tim-lewis-at-kinetica-art-fair (Accessed on 22.08.2015)
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Credits MA Architecture Course Leader: Sam McElhinney MA Architecture Design Tutor: David Di Duca Visiting Critics 2014/15: Jonty Craig - BAT Studio Jon Hodges - Bare Conductive Guy Woodhouse - Piercy & Co. David Lomax - Waugh Thistleton Architects Fiona Zisch - University of Westminster Clemens Plank - University of Innsbruck Tetsuro Nagata - Nissen Richards Studio Elizabeth Upham - MUD Architecture Technical Support: Christopher Settle Ben Westacot Simon Nimo
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