Infestation!

A swarm , architecture, crisis management

Preliminary Musings

All semester I have struggled to define ‘usefulness’ for myself, my tool, my method of experimentation. Now at the end, I can safely say that most of what I toyed with didn’t end up in the final project , and what did end up in the final project is certainly not ‘useful’ by any meaningful measure. Alas, I have carried the loose thread of ‘synesthesia’ through the semester- specifically light and sound relationships.

In the second half of the semester I grew interested in using micro-controllers like Arduinos to send information to grasshopper- this resulted in prototype with a wide variety of sensors (gas, moisture, temperature, motion, infrared etc). I was extremely overwhelmed by how sensitive these sensors were to even the faintest changes in the environment. Watching the rapidly increasing data stream list of values made me think about how the built environment might be different if the human body was that sensitive to change.

Which leads to … Infestation!

What, why, how?

Infestation! is a design tool that simulates a swarm of agents flowing through objects. The object’s form changes by both the number of agents and the proximity of the agents to the objects. Users are able to control the behavior of the agents by either attracting them to or repelling them from positions.

I imagined these agents as a swarm of relentless locusts, and enjoyed the idea of these creatures being highly sensitive to changes in the environment. As such, I scripted the behavior such that the locusts were repelled by light and attracted to sound.

I set up four Arduino based light theremins: readings from photo-resistors (sensors that respond to light exposure) were remapped so each theremin played notes from two octaves. The light exposure readings were mapped to the repulsion points on the map, and the sound frequencies were mapped to attraction points on the map. Therefore, as a user interacts with the system — shining bright lights on areas the swarm will get repelled from that area and disperse. Since the higher light exposure generates a louder sound attraction in other parts of the map will increase and draw the swarm there. At this moment the attractor points are randomized to keep shuffling through the area and the repulsion points are fixed. The idea is to keep the user on their toes about where the swarm moves next , and make them decide which areas need a stronger repulsion to push the swarm away again. Currently, the simulation is 2 minutes long, after which point the new distorted geometry is baked.

Concluding Musings

I think the project in its current version is quite playful, obviously it is not a serious or particularly useful tool. But it certainly is a more active way of deforming an object. I think with the right data/ algorithms/ assumptions something like this could model crowd behavior, hurricanes, or anything that behaves like a swarm. I would like the interface to be a bit better , maybe refine how precisely each attribute affects repulsion or attraction- I also find the paths the agents draw to be quite beautiful, perhaps in the next version those lines somehow weave a mesh of their own and that forms a new geometry in the space. Obviously right now the system works best in the dark, which is certainly a design flaw I am thinking of remedying hopefully- perhaps the forces will be affected by the rate of change rather than the actual value of light exposure itself?I think the most important take away is that every decision you make has consequence. The design should be sensitive to and reflect all the micro-changes in your head space. Each flicker of light has potential to sway your project one way or another.

Gauri Bahuguna

Metatool Fall 2019 | Professor Dan Taeyoung | TA Adam Vosburgh

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