Emergent Pattern Formation via Embodied Encoding of Bristle Bots

Abstract

Architecture has traditionally drawn inspiration from nature and specially recently there is a significant interest in the inner logic of morphological processes which are abundant in Nature. The introduction of modernism brought standardization and careful construction planning which took the place of the resource (local material) and process based building techniques that characterized vernacular architecture. However, unlike modern architecture, where the blueprint in most cases serves as a specific one-off set of plans and instructions to build a structure, in nature simple organisms, work collectively and manage to build large-scale functional nests without any global coordination or blueprint by just following simple local rules, (see figures 1,2). Inspired by the behavior and construction process of termite mounts, we abstract basic rules of such natural process and transplant them into an architectural context with the aim to explore the emergent formation of 2D structures. The active robots (bristle bots) are used as a hardware platform and operate in a large 2D arena filled with differently shaped passive building material, which the robots can push around (see figure 3). The robots navigate randomly and their locomotion can be tuned according to user-defined targets (i.e. form clusters, chains). By simulating and testing physically the interaction of up to 200 low level bots, the objective was to tune basic parameters (geometry) and constraints (i.e. friction) and observe their global effect on the behavior of the swarm and consequently on generation two-dimensional (2D) structures with different qualities. The exploration was focused on how “embodied encoding” can result into the emergence of structures with different functional properties. By “embodied encoding” we refer to a method to influence the behavior of the robots by adjusting mechanical and geometric features rather than applying software control mechanisms. This work was developed within a interdisciplinary workshop and was enabled by close collaboration of architects, roboticists, and engineers; with it we explore the ways that global phenomena emerge through simple local interactions and how designers can affect the behavior of these emergent structures by manipulating specific geometric features.

Full text

3
TOPI C (ACADIA team will ll in)
2
Emergent Paern Formaon via
Embodied Encoding of Bristle Bots
Evangelos Pant azis
USC / Topotheque
Emmanouil Vermisso
lia Atlan nieit
Jasmine Sadegh
ICD / ITKE
HERO IMAGE
te eai  te wam an neentl n enean D
tte wit ieent alie e elan wa e
n w emie enin an elt in te emeene 
tte wit ieent nnal ee  emie
enin we ee t a met t inene te eai  te
t  an meanial an emeti eate ate
tan alin wae ntl meanim
i w wa eele witin an inteiilina w-
 an wa enale  te le llaan  aitet
it an eninee e ele te wa tat lal
enmena emee t imle lal intean an a
w eine an aet te eai  tee emeent t-
te  manilan ei emeti eate
Research Question & Experimental Design
wam  t ae eil een wn t e aale
 elaniin int mle eetemine aen t in
natal tem net ae ilt ain t nnalit ate
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Embodied computation as a method of emergent design pattern exploration
Aitete a tainall awn inian m nate an eeiall eentl tee a een
a iniant inteet in te inne li  mlial ee wi ae anant in nate e
intn  menim t tanaian an ael ntn lannin wi t
te lae  te ee (lal mateial) an eae ilin tenie tat aateie
enala aitete wee nlie men aitete wee te leint in mt ae
ee a a ei ne et  lan an intn t il a tte in nate imle
anim w lleel an manae t il laeale nnal net witt an lal
inan  leint  iml llwin lal le (e  an )
Inie  te eai  temite an te ntn  tei mn we atat ai le
m natal ee an tanlant tem int an aitetal ntet wit te aim  elin
te emeent man  twimeninal (D) tte e ae t (itle t) ae
e a a awae lam an eate in a lae D aena lle wit ieentl ae aie
ilin mateial wi te t an  an (e ) e t naiate anml an
tei lmn an e tne ain t eene taet (e m lte ain) 
imlan an iall ten te intean   t  lwleel t te ee wa t
tne ai aamete (emet) an ntaint (e in) an ee tei lal eet n
PRODUCTION NOTES
mat emet 
wamt Aemlae Clte
Clte Camin
eta ennin
in eteen
Clte et
il a
Date Ail 
1 Cle imae  an eeimental n () wit nnnim l (antai  )
tan ae iewie in ti w we will eneate eme-
ent tte tat eiit etain eitale an tenall
el eate  nn intea  ei ae an em-
etie ien in a twn manne In e t ele w 
a ntn e an e iete t emie in
 at an t ate tan wae ntl we eel
an eeimental et wi imlement t a ial wam
lam an a tm iital imlan t ele te ein
ae an tne te aeml e (e )
 a eie  eeimental n wi ae tline in
e  we ae tie t ele te elani etween a
wam  imle lwleel t an te manilan  tei
eninment t elanianal mei eai
e ae inteete in w ei eate an e aiee
elial  te tem t te atment  emeti
aatei an w te aamete  emie in
aet tem
2 Termites operang on soil and their self-constructed habitat (termite mound) in Nigeria (construcon me 4-5 years); Construcon workers laying foundaon and the
completed residenal building in Los Angeles, USA, (construcon me 1-2 years)
3 imeline  ntn tenie in te t ent m manal t atnm llee ntn t (Ceit aai C tw  i
 Intte   aai In tw In aa)


TOPI C (ACADIA team will ll in)

Results and Discussion
In ti t we ae ele at an inial tae w emin
eai int emeti ee an alin ti nt a
lae nme  lwt t an litweit ilin l
an aiee a eee  ntl e a eeminl anm an
eentalie eai it an amnt  t nit etween
 an  we ee tat e man itean (e
nnin  eate tan  min) te wam eem t nee
n a mmn eai an en tailie int a tte
Cneel ain a malle nme  t  t i  an
aena et lal eai anm
e ael ata llen an ialian  t imlate
an ial ata allw  t int t eaial tenenie
an ie  e tat  lel mnitin an an e
ein aamete we an il iet te ial eai
 te wam me aatel witt te nee t al ental-
ie ntl  eme iate ntl meanim n te
t (ie )
wee in e t e ale t et me taal iniane
we ae t em mlle n an ee wetewe an
en  wit imila emeent eai e me ien te
ame nin Ante limitan  te t i tat te
eele imlan tl i at a ail ai leel Alt
te imlan elt mate te ial elt ()
t a ain eee tee ae a lt me nnalie t
e imlemente in e t ee imlate te atal enin-
mental nin  eamle ntllin te inial in
 t an imin te lliin eten an eai in
imlan
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
i mateial i ae n w ne at te mat emet
Cneene  in ten ween an te imlementan
ne at te nieit  ten Calinia at te Deatment 
eia an ae  te l  Cinema At i te eea
wa atl ne  te nai nan in eee e wl lie
t ie eial tan t all te lte amin eta ennin in
5 Altenae ein eeimentan  t t an l ilite i te nan wi wa tete (eit antai ae emi )
4 amew iaam illtan  aa wi inle  tae Dein imlan miial en an Anali a well te eeimental ein et
(eit antai ae emi )


TOPI C (ACADIA team will ll in)

7 aen man e wit mmetial l 8 aen man e wit mmetial l
10 aen man e wit nnmmetial l9 aen man e wit nnmmetial l
eteen an il a  iin  te eeimental lam an
e iina en  e aie
REFERENCES
eni ea  m wam Intelliene t wam  In
Swarm Robocs eite  l ain an illiam  ea eiele
ine 
amai ai an aia le  Digital Materiality in
Architecture aen a lle lie
aeawa i  A ew ae  Cntn Atman an
 in aan Proceedings of the 17th Internaonal Symposium on
Automaon and Robocs in Construcon (ISARC 2000) aiei aiwan
IAC 
Ielan im  mei lannin In ACADIA 10: LIFE in:formaon,
On Responsive Informaon and Variaons in Architecture: Proceedings of
the 30th Annual Conference of the Associaon for Computer Aided Design
in Architecture eite  Aan ee ai eaa an al
enia ew  ACADIA 
nei e  Atmate Cntn  Cnt
Cainelate  an Inman enlie Automaon in
Construcon  () 
e C nal an n an  Cllee  m
ial Inet t t Adapve Behavior ( ) 
eteen in aelae  Cllee Cntn  emite
Inie t D Dietan aa nieit
ain l  wam  m e  Inian t
Dmain  Alian In eite  l ain an illiam  ea
eiele ine 
eel n in eteen an aia aal  Ditite
lt Alitm  te  D Cllee Cntn
tem In Proceedings of Robocs: Science and Systems VII eite 
  Dantte ila  an iete Aeel  Anele
 
Emergent Paern Formaon antai ae emi
6 ale eiin te te  eeimental et e aamete al an emane meae (t le) maae ialian  n (t it)
an elt m n wit nim an nnnim ilin l (m) (eit antai ae emi )
Jasmin Sadegh i a ate Caniate in te  IC am
at te nieit  tat eil e eeie a ael 
iene in nineein m  nieit e a eeiene win
at nie eli Aane nineein an eel nineein
Cnltant it inteet in imlemenn mtanal ein
ee an iital aian int te eal tae  enineein
ein e a aiate in eeal ailin et
Evangelos Pantazis i entl a D tent at te itei l
 nineein at te nieit  ten Calinia i eea
lie n te inteen  aitete an enineein an m-
tanal melin an e n te e  l Aent tem 
ilin ein  an l a ate  Aane tie in te el
 Cmte Aie Aitetal Dein m te  in i ()
e eeie i Dilma in Aitete wit n m Aittle
nieit  ealnii () an a al aate m te
 ewel ein l in  wee e wa taine a
a ewele einall anel a aine eeiene in eeal
intenanal e inlin a in elin an ti ei  in
eiin n ae e ne tee ein e a ein
an eea ti tat enae mtanal ein wit ai
tanent iiline  i aaemi w anel a een ne
 te IA nan in witelan an nai nan in eee
an i eea a een eate in nal an neene inlin
Atman in Cntn CAAD te IAD eCAADe
Emmanouil Vermisso i a tene Aiate e at lia
Atlan nieit in n Dein Cmtan e a ae
aitete at teatne A an i Aiate in
nn mmanil l a Dilma in Aitete m te nieit
 etminte an a ate  Aitete m ae nieit
wee e eamine element  Claiim t a iitallien
metl i inteet witin ein lie at te inteen  iital
ein te Aitetal aniim an aian i eea
e n te net  meent ee in ein tinin an
ilial anal in aitete m a emane an eaial
eee mmanil a een eentl enie wit an ACA
Ceae Aieement Awa () a int CA Awa ()
t ein a new e n emae Dein an a  ie in an