Saturday, August 16, 2008

In the not-so-distant future, lighting fixtures will approximate sentience.



The AI Light is made in nylon using EOS's laser sintering process. Inside each wing are two actuators, one to control bending and one to control twisting; these allow the light to perform fluid, organic transformations, rather than harsh, robotic movements. The 'AI' refers to the way in which the light learns from its surroundings, and allows what Assa calls "training rather than controlling."

(Via Beyond the Beyond.)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"The 'AI' refers to the way in which the light learns from its surroundings, and allows what Assa calls 'training rather than controlling.'"

Very intriguing project, almost like something Burroughs, or Ballard, might have imagined as part of one of their stories.

But, I wonder if, after a few weeks, of "learned AI behavior" of a ceiling lamp, with those moving bands of light crawling around, whether it might become rather distracting, and impractical to live with as anything other than a form of illumined art object, as lamps are primarily for the purpose of providing basic illumination in a room you're doing something else in than usually appreciating your lamp's artistic, reactive behavior.

I mean, what's next, a lamp that whispers to you urgently, "turn me off!", or, more possibly disturbing, "Hey, you there. Human. Turn me on..." as previously unseen translucent Cthulu-ian tendrils sinuously unfurl and reach toward you? Aaaggh! 8^}