Upcoming Nervous System Events in Boston

We’re doing several fun events in the upcoming month, and we wanted to tell you about them.

3D Printing Night @Room 68 — April 4, 6-9pm
68 South St, Jamaica Plain, MA

Tomorrow night (April 4th) we’ll be at Room 68 from 6:00-9:00pm. Stores and galleries in Jamaica Plain stay open late on the first Thursday of each month, and our friends at Room 68 invited us to be involved. We love working with the Room 68 team, and we’re excited to be showing off a brand new cellular coffee table designed with our Radiolaria web app. You can also buy Nervous System lamps or jewelry and see a MakerBot 3D printer in action. Maybe we’ll make a 3D-printed cat for you!

Science Crawl @Xylem — April 18, 5-8pm
287 Third St, Cambridge, MA

On Thursday, April 18th, we’ll be hosting one of the stops on the Science Crawl, a Cambridge Science Festival event. We’re thankful to our friends at Xylem for letting us use their store. We hope you’ll come by and see the exhibition: we’re going to transform Xylem into a space where you can explore everything Nervous System. We’ll have all our new stuff on display, including tables, superhard jigsaw puzzles, and neon-colored jewelry. We’re also going to invite visitors to experiment with our interactive design tools, and Jesse and Jessica will be there to explain the math and science behind their designs. Ask them anything!

Somerville Open Studios @Nervous System — May 4-5, 12-6pm
561 Windsor St, Suite A206, Somerville, MA

In May, we’re going to be involved with Somerville Open Studios, a great event where artists all over Somerville invite people to see the spaces where they create. First, Nervous System will be featured at the Somerville Open Studios fashion show on May 1st. The fashion show starts at 7:30pm in the Center for Arts at the Armory. Then, on May 4th and 5th, the Nervous System studio will be open from noon til 6:00pm, and we’d love for you to come visit. We’ll be featuring our interactive design tools, and we plan to show some new experiments as well.

Nervous System @ CMU Design

Special thanks to Terry Irwin, Golan Levin and Jeremy Ficca for organizing our trip earlier this month to visit Carnegie Mellon University.  We gave a lecture for the Design school, played with robots in the Architecture department’s Digital Fabrication Lab, and spoke with students at the Studio for Creative Inquiry.

They even videotaped our lecture….so without further ado, here it is!

The Future of Manufacturing (Seminar)

I just started a seminar at sprout aimed at exploring how to use and make digital fabrication tools for the production of mass market goods. We had our first meeting this past Sunday brainstorming some ideas of what we want to pursue.

When: Sundays at 3pm.
Where: Sprout 339R Summer St, Somerville MA

The Future of Manufacturing

We are currently seeing the emergence of new technology and culture around manufacturing. Computer-controlled fabrication technology (CNC routers, laser cutters, 3D printers) open up opportunities to change the way we interact with the production of goods. Traditionally manufacturing has been built around large investment in specialized factories and tools to produce the lowest cost for runs of millions of units. These new tools emphasize flexibility instead of efficiency. This allows for the production of objects with little overhead, lowering the barriers to engage in manufacturing. Little risk and investment means a more democratic and diverse manufacturing world. However, most objects we consume are still made in a traditional way. Some tools, like CNC milling machines, have become industry standard. Injection mold making is now mostly done on CNC equipment, but molds still run from $25,000 to $500,000. On the other hand 3D printers are still relegated to prototyping, hobbyists, and high-end design objects. Most tools are still price prohibitive to make products for the mass market.

From the cultural side, we have the emergence of the craft, DIY, and open-source movements. The craft movement emphasizes small-scale, personalized production. Crafted products are primarily small “gifts” that are affordable but with a small premium because it is: different, ethically produced, directly from the maker. The DIY movement has developed a community of people interested in making their own tools, usually cheaper than commercial ones. Open-source provides a democratic development process, though it has not made much headway outside of software. There is also an increased interest in personally/artisanally produced goods, especially seen in agriculture (CSAs) and foods.

This seminar aims to explore how we can use emerging digital fabrication tools to engage in the small-scale production of goods for the mass market. How can this new form of manufacturing compete with the traditional? What is the new factory? Is it factory as organism instead of factory as machine, emphasizing flexibility and integration? Or is the factory non-existent? We can approach this from several different fronts. We can develop tools or tool chains that are low cost, flexible ways to fabricate objects. This does not have be as general purpose as something like a metal 3D printer, but could very specific to a certain product, eg ceramic housewares. We can imagine new ways to share knowledge about production techniques. We can try to bring the factory and the consumer closer together.

The seminar is an opportunity to share knowledge, collaborate on projects, and brainstorm new ideas. Each week, a person/persons will present some topic, for instance:

* a project proposal
* a project’s progress
* a technical topic, eg how to build a CNC router
* a manufacturing technology, eg how is something made
* thoughts or research into broader ideas: new ways to engage in manufacturing

Computational design: a new look at the natural world

Jesse is teaching a class this spring with the support of sprout.  It essentially covers the topics of interest to us at Nervous System: taking computational models of natural systems and adapting them for design work.  It is somewhat technically focused and is geared towards designers with some familiarity with programming/science or those with a science/programming background who want to learn and be creative.  If you are in the Boston area, take it!  Also, each session is made to be stand-alone (or in conjunction with one other week), so if you just want to attend one topic of interest you can.  Each week will center around one simulation technique (and some additional geometry generating material), and we will work through and play with one or more example systems.

More information below: Read the rest of this entry »

Computational Design Worksession #1

We just completed our first computational design meeting/session/thing, and I will tentatively say it was a success.  I think we are still feeling around for what the focus of these worksessions is going to be, but so far things are progressing.  We had about half a dozen people show up, with a majority either MIT or sprout affiliated.  The event managed to self-select well with people seeming to have a genuine interest in doing work rather than a hesitant curiosity.  There was a lot of introduction of “who are you” or “what is going on here”, which I would like to get away from but I understand that it is necessary for starting something.

We will be meeting again next week on Tuesday and Thursday.  We may change the 6pm-9pm time since most people did not show up until 7pm.  I will ask people who come next Tuesday if they have a preferred time.

The idea of building something collaboratively seemed to appeal, so that is a direction we may go.   I would also like to bring in more computation focused people, since I feel that was a bit lacking.  We are contacting some exciting people, which I will publicize if they are actually coming.  We may also invite guests to give a talk for an hour or so, and then stay after to exchange ideas/do work for an hour or two.

If you are interested, please come to next session, or if you cannot just spread the word.   Also, I think there will be a Processing study group going on at the same time on Tuesdays, so if you are a beginner and would prefer to focus on learning you can come and go to that.

worksessions in computational design

Where are all the computational designers in the US?  Every time I find a new, interesting artist in the field, they are almost always in Europe.  Are people in the US really doing less algorithmic work, or are students playing with this stuff more inclined to get a job at some large corporation instead of pursuing their own independent projects?In the spirit of finding out, we will be hosting open worksessions in computational design at sprout in Boston.  This will be a place people can come with projects or ideas they are working to share, collaborate, learn, debug, discuss, and refine.  We welcome people from a wide range disciplines and abilities.  This is a very open-ended endeavor, and I would be happy to see a variety of activities to emerge: impromptu talks, lessons, collaborations, open tools and libraries, shows. We will let you know how the event evolves and please come and help shape it if you have a passion for design and computation.when: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6pm-9pm starting Sept 17where: sprout 339R Summer St Somerville, MA 02144 (near Davis Sq just past the Rosebud diner, building is in the back at the end of the driveway)