Seriously though, this is something I want in my home. I think the idea of a part of your display breaking off to annoy the cat is just genius on so many levels.

I think applied to a single plane, this idea is far from impossible and has many uses. I could see companies falling over themselves to get something like this for advertising in stores.

I checked her project page to find the name of the artist so I don’t have to find it on the CD, but I could not find it.

She appears to have used the music without crediting the original artist.

The above example, for instance. She could do all of this in a really cool manner with a simple video camera and a projector! Maybe learn a bit of Processing, because that’s the language all the artsy designers learn. Real examples of such work have already been actually created and posted here on Boing Boing.

Why insist on swarms of robots when they’re not necessary? They don’t even make any sense: how did the robots find the plant in the first place without being able to see the whole room? Where is the text coming from? The robots are pointless without the text, yet it just seems to have been added on like some afterthought captions.

Because robots are cool, and projectors are passe. They want to get published. At the same time I think the idea is interesting.

“They don’t even make any sense: how did the robots find the plant in the first place without being able to see the whole room?”

I’m sure if the plant has a moisture sensor of any sort it could also be outfitted with sometime to give location. Even passive identification such as an RFID tag or use of glyphs would work. They’re inexpensive and freely available. For more active location an ultrasound transducer on the object that chirps would be enough. The robots could just follow the noise. The swarm would be very affective for location tasks.

“Where is the text coming from? The robots are pointless without the text, yet it just seems to have been added on like some afterthought captions.”

Do you read every traffic sign you come across? Are all logos meaningless without text? I think the presentation is chaotic. Clear affordances could easy be made for specific tasks. If you’re looking for your keys, I think the circle of yellow arrows pointing to them on the desk is pretty clear. And an arrow pointing to the plant of cascading blues would be an excellent reminder to water it. Don’t fault the concept for unclear execution in the video. I think it has merit.

Also, as an additional note, have you never done something that was a complete waist of time, simply for the enjoyment of doing it? If not, I would suggest it, it’s a very refreshing experience.

Honestly, I don’t think so. Beyond being a fun gadget with a huge “wow” factor, it’s kind of pointless.

Sorry to break this to you, but Julia is not just some designer who comes up with concepts that can’t be implemented. The live visuals she created for her man Nosaj Thing are probably the freshist live vidz anyone has done in years.

Examples:
http://vimeo.com/8168276
http://vimeo.com/8168322

I think her senior thesis is very well executed, clearly explains a controversial potential future technology, and is definitely thought provoking. Hate all you want, she is a brilliant and talented young artist out there crushing it right now.

Hey, if it gets you the piece of paper. And a thesis does require research and experimentation, so I would think there’s a little more work behind this than a concept video.

‘I don’t think that making videos of unimplementable “concepts” is any more interesting than randomly spouting off ideas out of my head.’

Unimplementable… I don’t this word means what you think it means. Prototyping a model that works on say the floor would be a good proof of concept and I really don’t think the full deal is all that far off. Getting sets of LEDs to have network controlled color, swarm robotics, controlled arrangement of autonomous nodes, wall crawling robots… Heck, Air Hogs makes an RC car that drives up walls.

The tech to make this on a slightly less developed scale already exists. Maybe she should look into a PhD in realizing them or getting involved with a group that could help do so.

“For instance, here’s a concept: What about a swarm of robots that automatically arrange themselves into 3D structures, giving all the furniture you need at any moment!”

I like it! Let’s jazz that idea up for research land. Say your inspiration came as from a biological source like the African Driver Ant and use other self assembling robots in your previous works section. Now spend a couple years in an institution working to get the idea published, researched, and well presented.

I WANT my flying cars, WHERE are my flying cars?

For instance, here’s a concept: What about a swarm of robots that automatically arrange themselves into 3D structures, giving all the furniture you need at any moment! Having breakfast? [sound of pennies piling up] Voila, a table and chair! Watching TV? [skitter skitter] Voila, a couch! Luckily, because the robots attach themselves to each other using elastic, the couch is even soft and springy! I can see the stop-motion video of self-assembling robots already.

Well, you say, the difference between me and her is that she didn’t just write her idea in a blog comment, she actually went ahead and did it! Or… rather… made a cartoon describing what it was that she meant. *That’s* the difference that actually gets you that MFA!

“Also, as an additional note, have you never done something that was a complete waist of time, simply for the enjoyment of doing it? If not, I would suggest it, it’s a very refreshing experience.”

Yes, but I didn’t make it my MA thesis.

I can see it now– “What? Are your servos broke?! Water the damn plant yourself and get off my back! I’ve got a meeting in an hour, and I still have to find my underpants! If you put my underpants in the plant ONE MORE GODDAMN TIME, I’m getting the Neodymium magnets out again!!”