Syllabus- Problem Statement

Domestic lifestyles have become increasingly automatized since the industrial revolution, however domestic space has yet to fully embrace the seemingly inevitable engagement with interactive technology.  It remains an applied layer of interfaces mostly tied to internet capable devices, televisions, laptops and phones. These devices however increase our propensity to not leave our work at the office, and to increase our anxiety and stress.  See Matt Killingsworth’s Ted Talk (http://www.npr.org/2014/02/14/267188672/are-we-happier-when-we-stay-in-the-moment). The author’s propose to use the theory of restorative environment as a base for how we can rethink our environment’s using the idea that restorative environments can “improve concentration, impulse control, delay gratification, as well as medical benefits such as improved recovery rates form surgery”. The characteristics of these environments are in many ways polemically different from the kinds of domestic spaces we tend to live in. This semester we will explore methods for using ubiquitous computing and robotics to reconsider the domestic situation.

The ubiquity and inevitable inclusion of robotics in the home allows us to further consider large and small scale physical interactions between a home interface and the physical environment.  We propose to assume that robotics will become far cheaper and more prolific, with increased precision and autonomy and ask you to consider how both stationary, ground (Roomba) and flight(Quad-copters, drones) based robotics could also be used to enhance the domestic experience.

We will use the paper “The Heterogeneous Home” by research at Intel in Berkeley and the Univ. Of California (Aipperspach, Hooker and Woodruff) as a starting point to consider how domestic lifestyles might be changed (for the better) by the inclusion of disparate points of technological interfaces which are increasingly autonomous, and which create “restorative environments”