Forces of gravity and the concept of a fixed center of mass severely limit the opportunities for product design and user interaction with those products. Symmetrical geometric shapes have a dominant presence in the world we live in. Furniture is a good product category to illustrate this. Generally speaking, there are three different kinds of furniture designs: 1) engineering-based, with an emphasis on materials and structure, 2) design-based, with a focus on the user, and 3) art-based with often a more freeform, non-functional foundation. It is, however, very difficult to create an optimal design that takes into account all three approaches.

What if you could mold a sheet of material into every organic and geometrical shape, and move the center of mass to allow for functional use by rebalancing the object? Not only does this enable users to create and use any form of a single type of furniture, it can be used to change from one type to another. For example, a chair can be turned into a table. Not just any table, a table that has a unique shape that was previously impossible to give any functional use to.

The mechanism is a liquid that can solidify. Primarily used in so-called heat pads, sodium acetate is very good at supercooling. It freezes at 130*F (54*C), but can stay liquid and stable at a much lower temperature. Clicking/bending a metal disk, however, has the ability to force a few molecules to flip to the solid state, and the rest of the liquid then rushes to solidify as well. This process is called “nucleation”, during which the solute molecules in the solvent start to gather into clusters on a nanometer scale. The temperature of the solidifying liquid then jumps to 130*F (54*C).

This mechanism can be considered “pre-programmed” and enabled or activated through manual interaction. Secondly, the trigger can be pulled electronically, making it also programmable with a computer. The material remains fluid until ready for use. For example, a shape can take ‘final’ form when a person sits on it, through phase-shifting from a liquid to a solid state.

PRESENTATION SLIDES (pdf)

FINAL PAPER (pdf)

Related Links
- Balancing furniture in “impossible” positions: Jacob Tonski’s “Balance From Within”
http://www.jacobtonski.com/balance-from-within/
- Reconfiguring a complete structure (e.g. a string of 3 blocks), leading to a displacement of the center of mass: MIT CSAIL’s “M-Blocks”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aZbJS6LZbs
- Jamsheets by Jifei → flexible objects becoming rigid
http://tangible.media.mit.edu/project/jamsheets-thin-stiffness-tunable-interfaces-using-/
- Heat pads → the crystallization principle for solidifying liquid matter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_acetate

Work Division
Ideation: Patrick, Krithika, Sang
Prototyping (box): Krithika, Sang
Prototyping (L-shifter): Krithika, Sang
Prototyping (Guitar): Sang
Video Shooting: Patrick, Sang
Video Editing: Patrick
Documentation: Patrick, Krithika, Sang
Slides: Sang

The basic functions of the electronically augmented sticky-notes will be receiving sensory (touch, sound, light) input, making sensory outputs (movement, sound, light), and communicating between different sticky-notes.

PDF attachment (updated)

sangwon@media.mit.edu
www.sangww.net
MIT Media Lab, Fluid Interfaces Group / MS1

Expertise
★★★★ Art
★★★★ Architecture
★★★★ Craft/Fabrication
★★★★ Design
★★★★ DIY Electronics
★★★★ Electrical Eng.
★★★★ Mech. Eng.
★★★★ Programming/CS

Experience
I have EE and Computer Vision background and has worked as a software engineer for 3 years. I developed an open-source DIY gaze-controlled controller for various PC use, and worked on lots of random NUI and Vision-based interaction softwares. Also I had/have strong personal interest in design and music so could be handy in some related stuffs.

Why
I am amazed by movies and stories about the worlds that doesn’t exist, full of magical artifacts and science fictions. I want to bring pieces of such cool stuffs into reality, by combining/intersecting technologies that blur the gap between the digital and physical worlds.