We are developing self-powered responsive building envelope components that efficiently integrate solar shading and heating, ventilation, privacy control, and ambient lighting. Dynamic facade modules integrate sensing systems to respond to both environmental conditions and the activities of people.

CityCar is a foldable, electric, sharable, two-passenger vehicle for crowded cities. Wheel Robots—fully modular in-wheel electric motors—integrate drive motors, suspension, braking, and steering inside the hub-space of the wheel. This drive-by-wire system requires only data, power, and mechanical connection to the chassis. With over 80 degrees of steering freedom, Wheel Robots enable a zero-turn radius, and without the gasoline-powered engine and drive-train the CityCar can fold.We are working with Denokinn on an integrated, modular system for assembly and distribution of the CityCar. Based in Spain's Basque region, the project is called "Hiriko," which stands for Urban Car. The Hiriko project aims to create a new, distributed manufacturing system for the CityCar, enabling automotive suppliers to provide "core" components made of integrated modules such as in-wheel motor units, battery systems, interiors, vehicle control systems, vehicle chassis/exoskeleton, and glazing. (Continuing the vision of William J. Mitchell.)

The CityCar half-scale prototype has been redesigned from the ground up to incorporate the latest materials and manufacturing processes, sensing technologies, battery systems, and more. This new prototype demonstrates the functional features of the CityCar at half-scale, including the folding chassis. New sensing systems have been embedded to enable research into autonomous driving and parking, while lithium batteries will provide extended range. A new control system based on microprocessors allows for faster boot time and modularity of the control system architecture.

The CityCar Testing Platform is a full-scale and modular vehicle that consists of four independently controlled Wheel Robots, an extruded aluminum frame, battery pack, driver's interface, and seating for two. Each Wheel Robot is capable of over 120 degrees of steering freedom, thus giving the CityCar chassis omni-directional driving ability such as sideways parking, zero-radius turning, torque steering, and variable velocity (in each wheel) steering. This four-wheeler is an experimental platform for by-wire controls (non-mechanically coupled controls) for the Wheel Robots, thus allowing for the platform to be controlled by wireless joysticks. The four-wheeler also allows the CityCar design team to experiment with highly personalized body/cabin designs. (Continuing the vision of William J. Mitchell.)

We demonstrate how the CityHome, which has a very small footprint (840 square feet), can function as an apartment two to three times that size. This is achieved through a transformable wall system which integrates furniture, storage, exercise equipment, lighting, office equipment, and entertainment systems. One potential scenario for the CityHome is where the bedroom transforms to a home gym, the living room to a dinner party space for 14 people, a suite for four guests, two separate office spaces plus a meeting space, or an a open loft space for a large party. Finally, the kitchen can either be open to the living space, or closed off to be used as a catering kitchen. Each occupant engages in a process to personalize the precise design of the wall units according to his or her unique activities and requirements.

We propose a recognition system with a user-centric point of view, designed to make the activity detection processes intelligible to the end-user of the home, and to permit these users to improve recognition and customize activity models based on their particular habits and behaviors. Our system, named Distinguish, relies on high-level, common sense information to create activity models used in recognition. These models are understandable by end-users and transferable between homes. Distinguish consists of a common-sense recognition engine that can be modified by end-users using a novel phone interface.

We are engaging in research that may be incorporated by Denokinn into a feasibility study for Mobility-on-Demand (MoD) systems in a select number of cities, including Berlin, Barcelona, Malmo, and San Francisco. The goal of the project is to propose electric mobility car-sharing pilot programs to collaborated cities, which will work with their existing public infrastructure, use Hiriko CityCar as the primary electric vehicle, and to study how this system will work with the urbanscape and lifestyle in different cities.

The home is becoming a center for preventative health care, energy production, distributed work, and new forms of learning, entertainment, and communication. We are developing techniques for capturing and encoding concepts related to human needs, activities, values, and practices. We are investigating solutions built from an expanding set of building blocks, or “genes,” which can be combined and recombined in various ways to create a unique assembly of spaces and systems. We are developing algorithms to match individuals to design solutions in a process analogous to that used to match customer profiles to music, movies, and books, as well as new fabrication and supply-chain technologies for efficient production. We are exploring how to tap the collective intelligence of distributed groups of people and companies to create an expanding set of solutions.

There is increasing interest in performing physiology monitoring in vehicles. This is motivated by healthcare trends, aging population, accident prevention, insurance, and forensic interests. We have developed sensors that can be embedded in a car seat and wirelessly measure occupant heart rate parameters and respiration. By developing algorithms that can detect driver stress, fatigue, or impairment, we can create better automotive safety systems, controls, and smart lighting for next-generation smart vehicles.

The housing, mobility, and health needs of the elderly are diverse, but current products and services are generic, disconnected from context, difficult to access without specialized guidance, and do not anticipate changing life circumstances. We are creating a platform for delivering integrated, personalized solutions to help aging individuals remain healthy, autonomous, productive, and engaged. We are developing new ways to assess specific individual needs and create mass-customized solutions. We are also developing new systems and standards for construction that will enable the delivery of more responsive homes, products, and services; these standards will make possible cost-effective but sophisticated, interoperable building components and systems. For instance, daylighting controls will be coordinated with reconfigurable rooms and will accommodate glare sensitivity. These construction standards will enable industrial suppliers to easily upgrade and retrofit homes to better care for home occupants as their needs change over time.

MITes (MIT environmental sensors) are low-cost, wireless devices for collecting data about human behavior and the state of the environment. Nine versions of MITes have now been developed, including MITes for people movement (3-axis accelerometers), object movement (2-axis accelerometers), temperature, light levels, indoor location, ultra-violet light exposure, heart rate, haptic output, and electrical current flow. MITes are being deployed to study human behavior in natural setting. We are also developing activity recognition algorithms using MITes data for health and energy applications. (a House_n Research Consortium Initiative funded by the National Science Foundation)

We are exploring the use of parametric design tools and CNC fabrication technology to enable lay people to navigate through a complex furniture and cabinetry design process for office and residential applications. We are also exploring the integration of sensors, lighting, and actuators into furniture to create objects that are responsive to human activity.

Air and water pollution are well-known concerns in cities throughout the world. However, communities often lack practical tools to measure and record pollution levels, and thus are often powerless to motivate policy change or government action. Although some government-funded pollution monitors do exist, they are sparsely located, and many large national and local governments fail to disclose this environmental data in areas where pollution is most prevalent. In order to address this public health need, we have been developing very low-cost, ultra low-power environmental sensors for air, soil, and water, that enable communities to easily sample their environment and upload data to their mobile phone and an online map. The ability to perform fine resolution, large-scale environmental monitoring not only empowers communities to enact new policies, but also serves as a public resource for city health services, traffic control, and general urban design.

The PowerSuit is a micro-energy harnessing material that functions based on temperature differentials between a person's skin and the outside environment. The skin becomes an activated landscape that can be used for micro-power generation. The idea is to consider small increments of energy as useful toward a specific purpose such as lighting safety LEDs while running at night time on cold days. This project is the beginning of an exploration in materials structures that yield micro-power through temperature differentials. Fundamentally, this is a shift in how people consider energy. Rather than constantly striving for tools and devices that are more powerful and less energy efficient, why not consider using small amounts of energy not typically utilized toward more efficient devices such as LED lighting.

Shadow Chess is a pair of Internet-connected chess sets that allows remote users to play a physical game of chess together. The boards can sense and display where pieces are moved from and to, determine if the move is valid, and send the move via WiFi to the other board, which can then replicate the move using magnets embedded in the pieces. This project explores how we can have more meaningful and tangible interactions with others over a distance than simply playing digital online games.

Sanders Consulting’s 2005 ground-breaking research, “Why Mass Customization is the Ultimate Lean Manufacturing System” showed that the best standard mass-production practices when framed from the point of view of the entire product lifecycle–from raw material production to point of purchase–was actually very inefficient and indeed wasteful in terms of energy, material use, and time. Our research examines the environmental impacts when applying mass customization methodologies to men's custom dress shirts. This study traces the production, distribution, sale, and customer-use of the product, in order to discover key areas of waste and opportunities for improvement. Our comparative study examines not only the energy and carbon emissions due production and distribution, but also customer acquisition and use, by using RFID tag technology to track shirt utilization of over 20 subjects over a three-month period.

With the next generation of lightweight electric vehicles being deployed in vehicle sharing systems across the world, there is a growing need for smarter charging infrastructure. smartCharge is the next generation of intelligent charging infrastructure for EVs in cities. Specifically optimized for EV sharing systems, the smartCharge platform integrates secure locking, high current vehicle charging (up to 36A), and data transfer into a single connector. Its concentric connector design allows users to insert the plug from any angle, allowing them to quickly lock and charge the rented vehicle without wasting time and space with separate docking and charging systems. The system connects vehicles to a smart charging post that integrates ambient LED lighting to provide feedback to users on the current state of charge of the vehicle, its availability status, and maintenance needs. The connection system is universally designed to function with electric bicycles, scooters, cars, and other lightweight EVs.

SproutsIO is a microfarming system that assists everyday people in reliably producing healthy food in urban areas. SproutsIO has scalable, modular components augmented by technology such as monitoring sensors, network capability and smart mobile applications to facilitate ease and a deeper understanding of the process through which aeroponic vegetables are grown. We believe that SproutsIO serves as a platform for closing the loop between people and food.