Dune 4.0:
The idea is that there are these stems with LEDs that respond to a users touch and sound. The project was created by Studio Roosegaarde out of the Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam, and CBK Rotterdam, in 2006–07 and was exhibited in the university gallery space and was planned for a permanent installation in a public space by the River Maas in Rotterdam. I like the simplicity and playfulness of this idea, creating an immersive environment using basic materials, and allowing the users to interact with the stems unknowingly at first.
http://www.interactivearchitecture.org/dune-40-daan-roosegaarde.html
BioMass Energy:
Althrough proven to be false, a number of people were believing that the US military had plans for a renewable energy source for their semi autonomous pack mule robots (http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/19/3785228/darpa-alpha-dog-now-obeys-voice-commands). In any case, this is an interesting idea that carries some heavy implications and ethical concerns. The energy source was biomass, presumably of fallen enemy combatants and the machines were to have a digestion method of sorts, allowing them to sustain their life and avoid the need for a conventional recharge. In practice, its clearly and awful thing to imagine, but technologically, would be pretty amazing. Is their another context for this idea that would be beneficial, or is the idea itself morally reprehensible?
