Physical Facebook

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design: Embedded Interaction Workshop
Figure 1

Theme:
In this workshop we will explore the new skills of contemporary social interactions and develop means to bring these new methods out of the computer and into the real physical world which we inhabit.  
You are to think about connecting people.  You may choose any site or context for your application but it needs to serve the goal of connecting people and fostering social interactions.  It may be about communication, but it also may be simply about awareness.  You are also to consider growth in that the project may grow through the interaction. 
As technology unfolds, will our design environments also be so inextricably tied to such living trends that both will ultimately and simultaneously respond to, and define each other in a corresponding manner?

Overview 
The aim of the course is to develop the skills necessary to explore, think about, and design intelligently responsive kinetic objects and systems and spaces.  The primary goal of the course is to expose students to innovative way of thinking about design in terms of adaptability with respect to both contextual systems and building programming.  The idea is to create spaces and objects that can physically re-configure themselves to meet changing needs. Students will focus on biomimetics for design inspiration. The central issues explored are human and environmental interaction, embedded computational infrastructures, physical control mechanisms and the processes that architects and designers can use in creating and demonstrating of such systems.   Within the framework of this course, design processes and methodologies will be developed so that students will have the practical confidence to explore such systems in future design explorations.

  • Introduction to Interactive Architecture
  • Contextual situations for the application of Intelligent Kinetic Systems
  • Basic mechanical and technological principles of kinetic design.
  • Introduction to basic behavioural patterns based on environment adaptation.
  • Hands-on introductory robotics for connecting sensors and motors to kinetic structures to prototype behaviour

    Workshop
  • Conceptual designing
  • Hands-on physical model fabrication.
  • Mechanical Designing
  • Introduction to Robotics+Audrino: hands-on electronics - connecting sensors and motors to kinetic structures
  • Introduction to Robotics+Audrino: using simple programming commands to control behaviours of mechanical structures
  • Prototyping

Main Image copied and modified from: http://www.thomasriggs.net