Microshapese
Too small to be designed
YEAR:
2013
CONTRIBUTION:
Master degree
thesis work
CREDITS:
Prof. Stefano Maffei
What is the smallest size to be designed?
Microshapes is a research project, aiming designers to work at the scale of microsized objects.
Microtechnologies are progressing so that we are facing insect sizes machines with incredible capacities: a promising landscape, still unexplored by designers.
It means facing new structures, behaviours, environments and new interactions.
Chips work like the brain, sensors as the eyes, while actuators are legs and arms. This combination introduces exciting behaviours such as Artificial and Swarm intelligence.
Artificial intelligence
Swarm intelligence
Unusual environments became potential habitats. Human body and organs, for instance, are a viable area for the development of these microsystems.
But how do we relate to products we can not see, hear or feel? We must design focusing on those senses, such as taste and smell, that are not affected by the size reduction, to establish new effective interactions.
Shortly, a new ecosystem of micro-objects could populate our lives. Designers can set the rules to build a useful dialogue between those products and Humans.
