Fluid Interfaces (Pattie Maes)

Object-Based Media (V. Michael Bove)

Tangible Media (Hiroshi Ishii)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like to apply to participate in the MIT Media Lab Programme provided by your organization.
I am particularly proud of the fact that during the period of obtaining my Masters (with a distinction)
in the Architectural Design programme at the Bartlett School of Architecture in University College
London (UCL), the final exhibition piece of my individual project won the prestigious 'Bronze Ear
Award'.I regard myself as an exceptionally good candidate for graduate school and will give below
some of the reasons why.
My early years
During my time at school, from the age of seven onwards, many tutors expressed their view that I
possessed talent that they had never before witnessed. When I was nine years old I was selected to
be part of a group of 300 students who would take part in a computational programme for an
international competition. Each three months we would sit an exam. After three years, only I and
five other students remained. Finally I won the Silver Award of Programming of the Province. By the
time I was twelve years old, I had already mastered three old-fashioned computer languages i.e.
BASIC, PASCAL and LOGO.
2012 2014
During this early period, I studied computational design at LCD (Laboratory for Computational Design)
where I learned both processing and Arduino. From 2013 until 2014 my research was conducted via
a GAD programme at Bartlett in UCL which was a multi-disciplinary research cluster focused on the
Behavior and Interaction of Things, Environments and their Inhabitants. Areas of focus included
Adaptive Responsive Environments, Kinetic Design and Robotics, Multi-Sensory Interfaces, the
Internet of Things, Biological and Material Computation.My 1st Element project won the Bronze
Ear Award there.
In most other cases, Bronze Ear Award is awarded to group work; however, I won this prize for a
project completed by an individual. My project was then developed for exhibition at the "Kinetic Art
Fair". However, I am more interested in observing the relationship between humans and the kinetic
interface. I asked myself what could I achieve when the interface moved at a faster speed. For this
reason, I am continuing my research and will propose a new mechanism based upon a high speed
spherical robot. It will need to combine the FO and PID software codes, together with the
mechanism needed to combine the omni-robot and air pump system which is shown within my
portfolio. Because it is a robot within a building, I am also proposing a space data interface project
based at Imperial College London.
Following on from this I completed two research projects including 1st Element: Morphology and
HRI in architectural robotics: Interfering Proximity Behavior by Spherical Robots. After my
graduation, I worked on "High speed data interface: a new type of spherical robot" which is still in
progress.
After my graduation, I proposed another research project to the Data Science Institute of Imperial
1

College London, entitled: The "Space Date Interface". For my Masters I completed two projects; "Fly
Fluid" and 1st Element. I have also joined the "Big Data project in Center Saint Martin.
The Fly Fluid project
During my time at Bartlett, my direction changed. I immensely enjoyed being involved in coding and
became fascinated in the use of interactive interfaces. During my first term, I created the "Fly fluid"
project. This involved using a mechanism to control seven servos as a robotic arm to move magnets
in order for them to modify the pattern of the ferro-fluid in a plastic screen. The device shown in my
portfolio is a fluid interface able to interact with human cognition based upon using a camera to
capture the changes within the eyes of participants. This allows a feedback loop to be created. I also
investigated connecting the device to the internet.
1st Element
During the rest of my time at Bartlett, I focused on the "1st Element" project. It started from a
kinetic robot with the goal to interact with humans. I chose a most simple geometry shape to give
more adaptability. I quickly found the spherical robots were limited in their mobility as they
possessed two axes only (able to move forwards and backwards and then change direction but they
need pre-orientation). In order to use it to modify human spatial behavior (omni-drection move),
this was obviously not enough. This is why I invented the first 3 axis spherical robot. With the
working robot, I was able to examine the morphology of the robot and HRI in building space, and
also its engineering properties. A sphere is the most basic 3D shape, so I decided that a series
of research studies based upon the basic geometries should start from it, which is why I call it the
"1st Element". I wish the first element to have omni- direction mobility and then to act as "agents"
to represent the virtual point in the screen. So this can be the first element to connect both virtually
and reality. After the experiment based upon the interaction of humans and robots in a 4m x 4m
space, I found the scale of 600 mm to be suitable for a human to interact with it. It was able to draw
people from one position to another like a pet may be used to guide people. Obviously, there are
lots of additional aspects that need to be improved and worked upon.
Vision light and Talking thing Projects
Following graduation from the Master's program, I cooperated with Harlan Yu to create the
prototype of the "Vision Light" project, and I started work on the "Talking Thing" project which is still
on-going. "Vision Light" is the latest project which I exhibited in Center Saint Martin. It is based
upon kinetic light which can sensor human behavior and make use of simple laws to serve people, so
it is not a tool but a servant. I have finalised the hardware, software and the concept of the
mechanism.

What I wish to do in your Lab

Based upon the experience obtained whilst working on From bits to atoms, which was of creating
the code through to the product with programming and fabrication, I became interested in posing
the question of, Could we regard robots as the new data interfaces in the near future? I proposed
the interfaces which would be able to combine behavior and intelligence with the development in
robotics and fabrication technology. As the robotic data interfaces would be regarded as common
products after fifteen years, I needed to think about how we would design the products discussed in
2

From bits to atoms, and what kind of new and valuable HRI would we create in the relationship
between the human and the robotic interface based upon the background of Big data and
Internet of things.
I already have the capacity to create a host of robots with the hardware and the codes obtained from the open-source communities and to include simple software to control the robot and apply
interactive theory to the robotic interfaces. This would make it more valuable for humans, but in
order to examine the question above, I need to learn more in certain fields which includes:
1) Visual data capture technology in 3-dimension space (not only the ability to hack the KINECT but
to know how to develop new technology, as the speed and capacity of KINECT 2.0 is really not
enough for the robot to capture data). I am aware that this is a very challenging field that lots of
companies have invested in it. In addition, I need to study machine learning and basic artificial
intelligence programming.
2) How to control robots in 3D dimensional space and how to establish the control model for the
kinetic of the robots. I believe that smart personal robots will be mainstream products available
within the next decade as with the help of a 3D printer, it is fairly simple to produce a robot.
3) The methodology of designing the new robot data interface. I need to understand HRI (Human
Interaction). As a designer I need to know what kind robot interface is suitable for humans as I think
the potential of the drone robots is more suitable than the spherical robot I have created.
If I can continue my interest in the field of robotic drone interfaces to create a personal flying smart
phone( we can follow it to the location we want to go to instead of looking for it in google map, I
believe it can be first smart robot that everyone needs it), it would be a wonderful opportunity for
me to study in your laboratory. However, I am aware that I need to learn more about the data
interfaces and the robotics.
The result of this has culminated in the desire to create more and therefore I recognize the need for
me to study further.
I possess unlimited potential in coding. To give an example, I could study the new book about
Blackberry in a week. I am able to hack most of the devices on the market by using the open source
community via the internet. I am also able to build prototypes of all fabrication machines i.e. ABS,
CNC, WATER JET and have the ability to programme the Universal Robotic Arms to prepare cocktails!
My ability also allows me to work effectively and coordinate operations with all programmers and
pure artists. As you can see, my capability is unlimited and I have strong knowledge in the field of
Arduino based software, hardware and processing.
This absolutely suggests that I will be very successful in my chosen area of research. I have a great
enthusiasm for creating physical interfaces that allow an exchange of data between people and
machines. I recently proposed the creation of a "Data Interface Laboratory" within the data
institution at Imperial College London. I discussed this initiative with one of the department's lead
academics Professor Guo Yike. Whilst it may seem odd for an architect to propose a laboratory in
the data science institution, these conversations have highlighted to me the challenges
faced by an designer pursuing research ideas that are cross-disciplinary between a practice of art
and the pursuit of scientific enquiry.
I obtained my IELTS 6.5 (Writing 7 Reading 7 Listening 6.5 Speaking 6) in 2013 but I missed the
deadline to waive it so I hope you can assist me with regard to this situation.
3

I have also worked within the English-speaking foreign Architecture companies Atkins and Peddle
Thorp for more than 2 years.
Summary
I am now 31 years old, but my goal to combine science and art has never been stronger. I am half
programmer and half designer who believes strongly that the new creators and designers in the
future will have no boundaries. I personally believe that products in the future will revolve around
data interfaces. What we possess at the moment is our spirit combined with reality and the laws
that govern it. We now need to focus on data interfaces to bring more information into the real
world and therefore release the full power of data processing.
As I have shown, my educational background sets me apart due to the fact that as a child, I excelled
at science and then chose to follow the creative route of studying design. This combination resulted
in me becoming half scientist and half designer, which is a powerful mix and immensely suitable for
the MIT Media Lab. Whereas it may be commonplace to work as a scientist, not many add in
product design, nor can an artist carry out programming in order to apply the latest technology to
their work.
In summary, my educational background, research, experience and fabrication skills combined with
my passion and skill to mix science and art (as a designer) make me the ideal candidate for the MIT
Media Lab.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely
Jaimme Guan
+044 (0)7419214403
jaimme6666@gmail.com

References:
Fluid Interfaces (Pattie Maes)
Object-Based Media (V. Michael Bove)
Tangible Media (Hiroshi Ishii)
Links to videos of "1st Element":
("1st Element" in UCL Quad)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOC1OB90AOk
( Design and Animation)
http://youtu.be/53RNcsAwLEk
( In Kinetic Art Fair 2014 ) http://youtu.be/TQ7BNy6ORIc
Link to my CV: https://www.scribd.com/doc/250236103/CV-of-Jaimme-Guan-Mit-Online
Link to my full portfolio:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/250241494/Full-Portfolio-of-Jaimme-Guan-MIT-Media-Lab-Big
Note: My Portfolio is also uploaded to the attachment in Test Scores/Experience.