Ricardo Sosa

A computational study of creativity in design: The role of society

Studies of creativity have tended to focus on isolated individuals, under the assumption that it can be defined as a characteristic of an extraordinary person, product, or process. Existing computational models of creative behavior have inherited this emphasis on independent generative processes. However, an increasing multidisciplinary consensus regards creativity as a systems property, and extends the focus of inquiry to include the interaction between generative individuals and evaluative social groups. To acknowledge the complementarity of evaluative processes by social groups, experts, and peers, this paper presents experimentation with a framework of design as a social activity. This model is used to inspect phenomena associated with creativity in the interaction between designers and their societies. In particular, this paper describes the strength of social ties as a mechanism of social organization, and explores its potential relation to creativity in a computational social simulation. These experiments illustrate ways in which the role of designers as change agents of their societies can be largely determined by how the evaluating group self-organizes over time. A key potential implication is that the isolated characteristics of designers may be insufficient to formulate conclusions about the nature and effects of their behavior. Instead, causality could be attributed to situational factors that define the relationship between designers and their evaluators.

Exploration of adaptive gait patterns with a reconfigurable linkage mechanism

Legged robots are able to move across irregular terrains and some can be energy efficient, but are often constrained by a limited range of gaits which can limit their locomotion capabilities considerably. This paper reports a reconfigurable design approach to robotic legged locomotion that produces a wide variety of gait cycles, opening new possibilities for innovative applications. In this paper, we present a distance-based formulation and its application to solve the position analysis problem of a standard Theo Jansen mechanism. By changing the configuration of a linkage, our objective in this study is to identify novel gait patterns of interest for a walking platform. The exemplary gait variations presented in this work demonstrate the feasibility of our approach, and considerably extend the capabilities of the original design to not only produce novel cum useful gait patterns but also to realize behaviors beyond locomotion.

Growing and destroying the worth of ideas

This paper presents a novel computational approach to the study of creativity. In particular, it discusses a modeling framework that addresses the worth of ideas ascribed by agents embedded in a social world. The triple objective of this system is to improve our understanding of how ideas may emerge from a few individuals, how social interaction may result in the ascription of value to new ideas, and how culture may evolve through time, transforming or replacing dominant or consensual ideas. The proposed system encompasses commonalities in existing theories of creativity, and suggests future theoretical directions that can be explored via simulation.

A Computational Framework for the Study of Creativity and Innovation in Design: Effects of Social Ties

This paper describes a socio-cognitive framework to study the interaction between designers and social groups. Experimentation with situational factors of creativity is presented. In particular, social ties in a population of adopters are shown to shape the way in which designers are considered as change agents of their societies.

Perspectives on design creativity and innovation research

The aim of this extended editorial is to offer a perspective on design creativity and innovation research on the occasion of launching the International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation. Thirty six members of the editorial board present their expectations, views, or opinions on the topics of the journal. All of these articles are presented in Section 2. In Section 3, summaries of the 36 articles are consolidated. This editorial also analyzes keywords from each of the articles, and the results are visualized in Section 4. The keyword analysis covers not only those words taken directly from each of the articles but also the implicit keywords that are suggested by the explicit ones. We believe this extended editorial will help the researchers, in particular young researchers, comprehend the essence of design creativity and innovation research and obtain a clue to tackle the new discipline.The aim of this extended editorial is to offer a perspective on design creativity and innovation research on the occasion of launching the International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation. Thirty six members of the editorial board present their expectations, views, or opinions on the topics of the journal. All of these articles are presented in Section 2. In Section 3, summaries of the 36 articles are consolidated. This editorial also analyzes keywords from each of the articles, and the results are visualized in Section 4. The keyword analysis covers not only those words taken directly from each of the articles but also the implicit keywords that are suggested by the explicit ones. We believe this extended editorial will help the researchers, in particular young researchers, comprehend the essence of design creativity and innovation research and obtain a clue to tackle the new discipline.

Social Change: Exploring Design Influence

This paper explores some aspects of group divergence based on principles relative to design disciplines. Extensions to an elementary model are used to explore the relation between divergence and social influence mechanisms previously employed to explain group convergence. The emergence of change agency is investigated.

Complexity Measures as a Basis for Mass Customization of Novel Designs

In this paper we present a computational approach to the integration of mass customization into the design of novel solutions. We propose the use of entropy as a function of the diversity of solutions that can be generated within a design space. This work demonstrates that the potential of design systems to generate novel solutions can be estimated using complexity measures. This principle is implemented in an evolutionary system for the design of automotive instrument panels that display situation-relevant information in configurations that adapt to traffic conditions and driving actions. This sample application shows that the application of complexity maximization as a selection criterion in evolutionary design systems yields a large variety of solutions of high fitness. We also present guidelines for future developments.

The Complementary Role of Representations in Design Creativity: Sketches and Models

This paper presents results and insights from a recent study on the role that different types of representations commonly used in design may have in creativity. The impact of sketches and physical models in design creativity is analysed. Our study suggests that novelty (originality) and function (quality) are valid constituents of the definition of creativity. It also suggests an apparent trade-off in the design process, where complementary representation modes must be planned in the early stages of ideation.

On a Jansen leg with multiple gait patterns for reconfigurable walking platforms

Legged robots are able to move across irregular terrains and those based on 1-degree-of-freedom planar linkages can be energy efficient, but are often constrained by a limited range of gaits which can limit their locomotion capabilities considerably. This article reports the design of a novel reconfigurable Theo Jansen linkage that produces a wide variety of gait cycles, opening new possibilities for innovative applications. The suggested mechanism switches from a pin-jointed Grübler kinematic chain to a 5-degree-of-freedom mechanism with slider joints during the reconfiguration process. It is shown that such reconfigurable linkage significantly extend the capabilities of the original design, while maintaining its mechanical simplicity during normal operation, to not only produce different useful gait patterns but also to realize behaviors beyond locomotion. Experiments with an implemented prototype are presented, and their results validate the proposed approach.

Hinged-Tetro: A self-reconfigurable module for nested reconfiguration

Nested reconfiguration is an emerging research area in modular robotics. Such a novel design concept utilizes individual robots with distinctive reconfiguration characteristics (intra-reconfigurability) capable of combining with other homogeneous/heterogeneous robots (inter-reconfigurability). The objective of this approach is to generate more complex morphologies for performing specific tasks that are far from the capabilities of a single module or to respond to programmable assembly requirements. The two-level reconfiguration process in nested reconfigurable robotic system implies several technical challenges in hardware design, planning algorithms, and control strategies. In this paper, we discuss the theory, concept, and initial mechanical design of Hinged-Tetro, a self-reconfigurable module conceived for the study of nested reconfiguration. Hinged-Tetro is a mobile robot that uses the principle of hinged dissection of polyominoes to transform itself into any of the seven one-sided tetrominoes, the Tetris pieces, in a straightforward way. The robot can also combine with other modules for shaping complex structures or giving rise to a robot with new capabilities. Some preliminary experiments of intra-reconfigurability with an implemented prototype are presented.