is a: (nature + human) centric designer and researcher finding symbiosis between organic and artificial life

Information | Archive

The Biopod Co.
An organization democratizing the restoration of wetlands, equipping communities worldwide to come together and save our most biodiverse and productive ecosystems

Bio - intelligence
Designing cars powered by organisms, not algorithms

TEDx

Designing living machines with biological components to reduce e-waste

Aero

Designing intelligent materials embeded on robotic drones that sense air health and sequesters toxins within a location

Chitobot
Designing technology with a perishable skin

PFV
A vehicle inspired by living systems that facilitates a bridge between city and nature

S(kin)-orb
Enhancing human-to-human communication through personal robots

Threads

Turning clothes into computers, facilitating human-AI symbiosis to enhance productivity, creativity, and wellbeing

29.4°+4°…
Speculating human mutation in the age of global warming

Living Archives
DNA data storage as a means of Interrogating our post life digital remains

Living Materials

Designing materials that conduct ecosystem services

Robo-reparans

In the absense of humans, robots learn to take care of eachother

Aero

Designing intelligent materials embeded on robotic drones that
sense air health and sequesters toxins within a location

Details: Material Science • Microscopy • User research

Client: Silk Lab @ Tufts University

Date: 2024

Mentors: Giulia Guidetti • Fiorenzo Omenetto

Team: Manini Banerjee

"Aero" is an artistic installation of drones that dynamically sequester air pollutants and act as air quality sensors.

Each drone is crafted out of silk with a material intelligence that changes color depending on the air health of a particular location, offering an accessible visualization of a systemically complex issue.

This project envisions a multidisciplinary relationship between art, technology, citizen science, and the environment, contributing to a regenerative future

Q: What if we developed biocompatible interventions that provide ecosystem services to combat poor air health?
A: Materials with intelligence that change color depending on the air health of a particular location, offering an accessible visualization of a systemically complex issue.

Optical Microscopy, BFR, 5X | Material Cross section prior to activation

Optical Microscopy, BFR, 10X | Top View (Left) revealing changes in the surface quality of the material upon base interaction. The material morphology coaggulates

Optical Microscopy, BFR, 5X | Cross Section (Right) revealing how a basic environment causes a historical imprint ~0.9mm into the material

Optical Microscopy, BFR, 10X | Top View (Left) revealing changes in the surface quality of the material upon acidic interaction. The material morphology dissolves.

Optical Microscopy, BFR, 5X | Cross Section (Right) revealing how an acidic environment causes a historical imprint ~0.9mm into the material

Optical Microscopy, BFR, 5X | Cross Sections revealing how an acidic and basic fluctuating environments cause historical imprints throughout the depth of the material.

Increasing the environmental resiliency of the material through varying the material composition

Q: How can we introduce restorative, empowering, and actionable objects into communities to educate and conduct air sensing?

A: Embedding the sensing silk foam into product applications for user interaction

Multiple material morphologies or ‘skins’ were tested out for the drones. Begning with iterations on the left that implemented nature-based motifs that alluded to natural systems.

Subsequent morphologies experimented with drone-as-organism that would fit into food webs and ecosystems.

Methodologies for replicable designs were developed and bio-fabricated using laser cutting techniques

The Drone can be flown into hard to reach areas and collect this historical information within a material that can be colorometrically studied once retrieved.

Q: Can airborne particles and air pollution be tackled by creating a closed loop system?

A: Tuning the material’s morphology to sequester various sizes of particulate matter

The material morphology can be adjusted through post processing and exposure to humidity and subsequent lyophilization.

The material was cryo-cracked and studied through SEM (scanning electron microscopy)

The testing setup features an air chamber with an insert for materials to test permiability and particulate sequestration capabilities.

PM2.5 sensors on either end of the material function as particulate counters using an infrared system. Sensor information was collected by arduino and converted into CSV files for subsequent analysis. Fans guided the particles through the chamber while a manometer ensures a constant air flow.

Materials of various morphologies and post processing techniques were tested using the above set up to reveal the best material design, postprocessing methodology and depth of laser cut design to be implemented onto the drone

In addition to numerical sensor data, cro-cracked cross-sections of the material was studied using sem methodology to identify and characterize the collection of particulate matter along it’s depth.