Exploring Architectural Robotics with the Human Hive

摘要

We present an activity we developed to demonstrate bottom-up form construction, the human hive. Participants team up to construct a hive structure from large interlocking cardboard blocks. Each participant is given a visual rule that describes where new cells should be added to the hive. The design of these rules guides the form of the structure that emerges from this uncoordinated activity. Bottom-up, distributed methods for specifying physical forms and behaviors are central to the emerging field of architectural robotics that deals with designing objects composed of self-reconfiguring materials.