Curious Displays | Julia Y. Tsao

Julia Y. Tsao

julia.yu.tsao@gmail.com

Introduction / Preliminary Research / Ideas & Content / The Project: Curious Displays / PROJECT DEVELOPMENT / Experiential Prototype / Conclusion

SWARM ROBOTICS

I began to analyze the potential manifestation of display systems in physical space. Having defined the Curious Displays as a display comprised of autonomous, independently mobile mini-dispaly surfaces, I began to research swarm intelligence and robotics.

From Swarm-Robotics.org:

“Swarm robotics is the study of how a large number of relatively simple physically embodied agents can be designed such that a desired collective behavior emerges from the local interactions among agents and between the agents and the environment. It is a novel approach to the coordination of large numbers of robots. It is inspired from the observation of social insects ---ants, termites, wasps and bees--- which stand as fascinating examples of how a large number of simple individuals can interact to create collectively intelligent systems.”

Swarm computing and robotics is largely dedicated to studies of self-organizing and self-assembling behavior, swarm behavior (particularly insects), computational control of large groups, biology, and even evolution. These behaviors have been studied extensively in robotics. Instead of spending effort on the creation of a single highly-developed, high technology robot, swarm robotics function in a very different way than traditional robotics. Swarm robotics consist of a high number of relatively simple robot units with relatively simple capabilities. They perform a single or a few simple tasks, but do the tasks efficiently, which can often times be a much more efficnet system than traditional robotics, depending on the functionality. Additionally, if one or a few of these simple swarm robot units become defective or break, the loss is far less significant than if one were operating a single, much more developed, high-tech robot.

swarm of robots. To allow a system like this into our lives as consumers is an almost relinquishing of control. There are 300 of them, and 1 of you. Is that acceptable? Is there something a little creepy about that? This realization and way of thinking was particularly interesting to me in that it pushed my research into a bit of a grey area, where our relationships with the growing presence of technology brings up issues of security, control, and definitely a bit of fear of what is unknown, and what might potentially be coming, as well.