Manifesto
Nowadays,
many people are living is a rush and hectic life which leads people to be forgetful of
the present; their mind is caught in worries, fears, anger and regrets
and that makes them suffer. Zen Buddhism beliefs that in order to be free
from suffer is to reach the state of awakening by using meditation as the
method to induce the mode of still mind.
Robo-mind is a project that
attempts to emphasize people’s experience on the idea of still mind and
impermanence through the operation of a robotic arm in a very chaotic condition of Hong
Kong. In order to encounter the experience of still mind, Zen meditation will
be used as the method, which is a meditation
practice by focusing our attention on an object to induce a mode of
consciousness. The movement of the robotic arm is very delicate and precise by
the accord of Hogarth’s Theory of Beauty that our eyes pursue curvy lines and
variety, which can also be found in the
sequences of tea ceremony and Canadarm2. The arm will perform the creation of
modular structures from leftover bamboo in order to accommodate Hong Kong
condition. Each module will have a heat
collector that collects heat and transform into
electricity that generate LED light at night.
During the day, the structure will be assembled together according to sunlight
to collect heat and also to perform as a shading device which can be dismantled
and reassembled as an extended gathering space.
In the evening,
each modular will also give out light for the
walkway. Every time the robot arm grabs the
module, the grabber drills holes into the bamboo to leave marks. The more it moves, the more holes it has, therefore, more light will be given out to the walkway, but at one point
when there are too many holes that the structure
become fragile and can not serve as the structure, it will be burn. The
structure can be dismantled, it changes every time there are adjustments, the
shade and shadow changes all the time according to the sunlight. the LED light can last until morning, and when the
structure become fragile and burn down these scenarios imply
the notion of impermanence.
0. Intro:
Animation
1.
Robo-mind is the project that attempts to emphasize people’s experience on the
idea of still mind and impermanence, which is the belief of Zen.
2.
Zen has been a great influence to many people’s daily life, especially Japanese
Art and Culture for example, Tea ceremony and Zen Garden.
3.
Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism developed during the 6th century
in China and spreaded to Vietnam, Korea, Japan and Western world. Zen
emphasizes the attainment of Enlightenment, which is ‘to see into
one’s true nature’ and ‘to have woken up and understood’, to reach
the state of ‘Awakening’ where suffering ends by using meditation and
interaction with Zen masters as a practice.
4.
Meditation is a practice in which an individual trains the mind or induces a mode
of consciousness and mindfulness by focusing our attention on an object. When
we become mindful, we start to aware of our presence, the surroundings and
understand the rule of nature. The heart of meditation is to understand that
our lives are constantly changing, therefore, nothing is permanent.
5.
Zen can be applied to our daily lives by living consciously and trying to
understand the rule of nature. Many of Japanese activities has been activate
based on Zen practice for example Zen Gardening and Tea Ceremony.
These
seem to be the free time activity, but the actual objective is to practice
meditation and become aware of the rules of nature. Tea Ceremony is considered
to be a social activity for Japanese people. It is held in a small, simple and
rustic teahouse that indicates the rules of nature of imperfection and
impermanence. Each movement has been designed to be delicate and precise, so
the host should consciously and slowly perform to the guests to avoid mistakes;
meanwhile the guests should also pay attention and appreciate each movement.
And when they drink tea, they have to be mindful, so they could really enjoy
the fragrance and the taste of the tea, which is the way to create the moment
of joy.
6.
Meanwhile, Canadarm2, a very highly technological robotic arm on the
International Space Station that helps to assemble and repair the structure
doesn’t seem to have any relation with religion. However, it is controlled by
astronauts in the station, which requires precision and concentration in order
to avoid errors.
7.
Robo-mind is located on the Mid-Level Elevated Escalator in Central, Hong Kong,
connected with Hollywood Street and Lyndhurst Street. The escalator is the main
artery that connects residence area uphill and office area downhill. Around the
site is clustered with shops and restaurants in multi levels, which enables
people to experience from different position. Normally people who use the
escalator just stand and observe around while waiting, so this will be use as
the advantage to in order to get the experience.
8.
In such a chaos environment like Hong Kong, it is hard to make people focus on
something unless it is very contrasting to the context. Therefore, ‘in order to
get our eyes attention is to entertain the eye with the pleasure of variety,
that the eye receives pleasure by following a curvy line’, said in Hogarth’s
Theory of Beauty.
9.
Those characteristics can be found in the precise and delicate movement of the
Tea Ceremony and Canadarm2, that it could get our attention.
Therefore, to create a still mind
experience, the robot arm will be used to perform a sequence that caught our
attention. The performance is going to use the distinctive point of the
Japanese Tea Ceremony, which is the sequential, precise and delicate movement.
10.
In order to accommodate the performance with Hong Kong condition, the ineffective
leftover bamboo from construction site will be use as part of the performance.
11.
The robot arm will bring each bamboo and delicately and precisely create a
modular structure that will be assembled together to be part of the elevated
platform structure. The module will consist of 8 sticks of bamboo tied together
and each stick is pointing out to different direction. The form of the module is
derived from triangular prisms stacked up together.
12.
The arm is divided into 4 main parts in order to allow modular creation on
itself. The first part is the grabber, this is the most important part that
people is going to pay attention to; it grabs and construct the bamboo module.
The second and third parts are the telescopic pieces that allow the robot arm
to extend out. The last part is attached to the gantry; it holds the bamboo so
that the grabber can work on. This part also provides a 3D scanner, four dust
collectors and a set of extra cutting tools.
13.The
arm is transferred by the gantry that is attached to the platform, and it is also
attached to a vertical rail that has a hydraulic system to raise the gantry up.
The gantry itself has a semi circle shape,
which allows the arm to move from one side to the other side.
A truck will deliver the bamboo and the
robot arm will store all the bamboo under the platform. Then it cuts the bamboo
piece by piece according to the width of the platform and lay out to create a
floor to walk on.
14.The cross section showing the structure, which
the first type is permanent structure is the escalator, the track for gantry
and columns to support. And the second one is the temporary structure is the
bamboo modules assembled together to create truss structure that support the
floor and the rest would fabricate together as a cloud of truss that provide shades.
15. In every bamboo there would be a LED
stick that generates light by heat. So during the day, the modules will shift
around according to the sun in order to collect heat and at the same time it
also perform as the shading device. These modules can be moved around to
express the notion of impermanence.
16. At night, the modules will be taken down
and assembled as an extended space that attached to the platform, for people to
come and gather around. And the LED stick will glow to provide light on the
platform.
17. Every time the arm moves the modules
around, the grabber will leave marks on the bamboo by drilling holes. The more
the module has been moved around, the more holes there will be. So that module
will be the brightest at night.
18. On the other hand when the module
becomes brighter, it becomes weaker at the same time. When there are too much
holes that the modular become fragile, it will get burned and replaced by the
new module created by the robot arm. This also expresses the notion of
impermanence, that nothing is last forever.
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