
Robotic Light Visualization
PARAMETRIC BIOMIMICRY
2024 | CCA Digital Craft Lab & Autodesk Technology Center, San Francisco.
Collaborators: Ali Farajmandi (Lead Researcher), Boya Wang
Links: Extended Description
Project Description: This project investigates the expressive potential of robotic motion through light and long-exposure photography. A compact LED spotlight is mounted on the robotic arm, transforming its movements into visible trajectories. As the robot performs a series of spatial operations—twisting, expanding, dividing, and turning—its illuminated path is captured as ethereal light traces, revealing the geometry of its behavior over time.
The luminous patterns evoke the spiraling elegance of seashell forms, offering both analytical and aesthetic insights into how specific parameters, particularly twist, shape the evolving structure. This visual simulation serves as a foundational study for a subsequent project focused on biomimetic 3D printing. By using light as a medium, the work maps out the formal logic that informs material fabrication processes in nature-inspired robotic construction. (By Ali Farajmandi)

The same technique is also used to visualize mathematical equations, translating abstract formulas into dynamic light drawings. The resulting images document both geometric logic and motion in space, serving as standalone visual artifacts within the project’s narrative.(By Boya Wang)
