Vanguard
Toward a World of Symbiotic Relationships between Products and Humans
Using the technology known as “programmable matter,”Associate Professor Akira Wakita is trying to achieve in real space what 3D computer graphics can do in cyberspace.
We asked him about the meaning and potential of this research, which he anticipates will play an important role in the real world as IT continues to advance.
WAKITA, Akira
Associate ProfessorFaculty of Environment and Information Studies
Matter Whose Shape Can Be Programmed
I am working
on what is known as programmable matter, that is, matter and
structures whose properties, such as their color or shape, can be
programmed. I want to create a world where, for example, you can tell
the desk in front of you to become round and it will do so, or you
can stretch and tell the chair you’re sitting in “I’m tired”
and the chair will recline. There are various approaches to creating
such objects, but the current trend among physicists is to build very
tiny robots (“cells”) equipped with a motor and wireless
receiver, and to create a system in which these cells all communicate
with one another and rearrange themselves into the desired shape. At
this stage, since the individual cells are still large, the ensembles
they form are quite sizable, but in the future it is expected that
claylike modular robots will be realized with millimeter-scale units.
My own work in this field involves what are known as “artificial
muscles,” or filaments of shape memory alloys; we embed these in a
textile and change their shape by electronically controlling the
contraction of each “muscle.” In this way, we produce curved
surfaces that change color and shape as programmed—something that
has long been possible on a display screen, but we are producing them
in real space.
My Interest in 3D Modeling Grew Out of Yachting
As an
undergraduate at SFC, I was a keen yachtsman. It was the sailing that
appealed to me initially, but when one starts looking into how to
make a boat go faster, one finds oneself dealing with the shape of
the keel, the shape of the sail, and so on. As a field, it’s fluid
dynamics. At first I was merely curious, but I grew increasingly
interested in fluids and curved surfaces, and when I looked into how
such curves are made in reality, I encountered three-dimensional CAD
research. In my senior year I joined the lab of Professor Hiroaki
Chiyokura, who is an expert in 3D CAD, and as a graduate student I
investigated modeling functions in 3D CAD. Related areas include the
study of rendering in 3D computer graphics, and media art, and these
led me to 3D user interfaces, which are the basis of my present
research.
My Encounter with Programmable Matter
After
completing my doctorate, I started a company and set to work on
interface design and media art. I was doing creative projects using,
in particular, a format known as VRML for handling 3D on the Web.
After I won the Grand Prix in the Nikkei Architecture Digital Design
Competition, the work that came my way was mostly in 3D user
interface architecture and design. And then I was invited to come
back and teach at SFC. At the time, the SFC community was focusing on
the idea of creating not just software but real, tangible objects,
and the research on wearable computing that I happened to get
involved with at that point led me to do further studies using
fabric. Those studies evolved into the development of clothing that
can change color under electronic control, and then to the work that
I mentioned earlier involving textiles that move under electronic
control. And what I am concentrating on now is programmable matter in
gel form.
Slime that Moves Like a Living Creature
Slime can be
made by mixing laundry starch, borax, and water; perhaps you made
some as a child. By mixing magnetic powder into slime and placing it
in a magnetic field controlled by a program, you can make it move
like a living creature. Technically speaking, it is a type of gel
magnetic fluid. You can control its form, so that it shape-shifts or
breaks up and comes together as programmed. This could be applied so
that when you type “Hello” on a keyboard, a blob of slime in real
space shapes itself into the letters H-E-L-L-O. Ultimately, by making
it possible to create more complex shapes, I hope to develop tools to
assist architects and product designers. It would be fun if we could
handle real space like 3D computer graphics.
The Solutions Exist in Nature
In addition,
my laboratory is doing research that models and simulates the
movements of organisms and the behavior of swarms. A famous example
of this kind of simulation is ant colony optimization, or the series
of events that ensue when ants discover food and bring it back to the
nest, releasing a pheromone as they go. Simply by setting rules for
how each ant moves in response to external stimuli such as the food
and the pheromone, you can simulate the movements of the group. Much
of the intelligence found in nature is based on mechanisms that
create a solution by responding dynamically to the environment. I
want to make products that imitate living things as a way of
exploring these natural mechanisms, rather than directly referencing
any one thing found in nature. I want to make products that can exist
in a symbiotic relationship with human beings and coevolve with them,
just like natural objects. As this research progresses, I think it
will lead to the ability to program things in real space without
having a negative impact on other environments. We are making new
materials and structures that can replace the materials used in
conventional architecture and product design.
A Wealth of Seeds of Information Design
One of the
advantages I notice at SFC since coming back as a faculty member is
that, by bringing together researchers in almost every field, it
highlights issues involving the interfaces between different
disciplines. For example, following the diffusion of the
infrastructure provided by the Internet, and with intelligent
transport systems (ITS) being installed in our cars, in the future,
spaces of every kind—our homes, our clothes—will be filled with
information. And when that information, on various scales, begins to
reach saturation point, it will be displayed in different ways
according to its properties. The key will be the human interfaces,
like those I am studying; these offer a wealth of seeds of
information design. Also, SFC provides an environment where we can
jointly experiment with social applications. When one’s work
reaches a phase where it has a potential social impact, one can
collaborate with researchers in the social sciences and conduct
social experiments. With advantages like this, I feel lucky to be
able to do research at SFC.
A Brief Background of Associate Professor
WAKITA, Akira
Associate Professor Wakita graduated in 1997 from the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University. He earned his master’s degree in 1999 and his Ph.D. in Media and Governance in 2002, both from the Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University. In 2004, he was appointed full-time lecturer in the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, and in 2007 he became an Associate Professor. His fields of specialization are information design, smart materials, and three-dimensional CAD and computer graphics. His major publications include Dezain gengo nyumon: Mono to joho wo musubu dezain no tame ni shitte okitai koto (Learning design language: Basic knowledge for design that links objects and information) (Tokyo: Keio University Press, 2009); as co-author, Models: Kenchiku mokei no hakubutsu toshi (Models: A museum city of architectural models) (Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 2010); and, as co-editor, Dezain gengo 2.0: Intarakushon no shikoho (Design language 2.0: How to think about interactions) (Tokyo: Keio University Press, 2006). Honors received include the Excellence Award in the Digital Design Category, 2003 Asia Digital Art Awards, and a jury recommendation in the 2002 Japan Media Arts Festival organized by the Agency for Cultural Affairs.
(14 January 2011)
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