Continuation of the Design

This is the continuation of a proposal which was first made in 1993.  The original proposal is here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20081007021434/http://emsh.calarts.edu/~mathart/Cell_Auto/CellAutoSculpt_prop_Contents.html   It states that we can leverage Moore's Law and integrated opto-electro-mechanical manufacturing to demonstrate principles of emergent behavior and artificial life in physical materials.   And that we can bootstrap this proposal in computer-aided design and visual simulation.  The most interesting pictures of the design are here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20081007021434/http://emsh.calarts.edu/~mathart/Cell_Auto/CellAutoSculpt_prop_4.html   And I have built a piece of interactive 3D graphics software which demonstrates the beginning of the kinds of things you could build with the 3D Kinetic Cellular Automaton here:  http://web.archive.org/web/20081007021434/http://emsh.calarts.edu/~mathart/Cell_Auto/Fl_SW_CA_3D.html 

A Larger-Scale Rendering of the Base Plane with a Cube Pyramid

The polygon count of a simulation based on CAD grows rapidly.  Versions of the system have been built in VRML and in Maya which take advantage of Level-of-Detail switching.  But, we get a slight change in the surface lighting when we switch from explicit polygons to surface textures.

NanoMotion PiezoElectric Linear Motors

NanoMotion Inc. make an off-the-shelf PiezoElectric linear InchWorm motor which will fit inside of the current Cubic Cell Design.  http://www.nanomotion.com   This design puts a bit more stress on the sliding tracks to maintain distance and pressure against the track surface on the adjoining cell faces.  Also, NanoMotion assumes an external controller/driver module.  We want to bring the controller/drivers (X3) inside of the cubic cell.

Cubic Cell with NanoMotion InchWorm Motors

The Cubic cell, as designed is large enough to accommodate six pieces of an off-the-shelf InchWorm (PiezoElectric micro-positioning) motor.  This picture shows motors and LED/photodetectors positioned on three faces of the Cubic Cell.  Motor control and driver circuitry has not been specified, nor do we have any idea of the requirements for cooling the cell.

Cubic Cell, Oblique View with NanoMotion Motors

Cube Cell Top Face with NanoMotion Motors

Modified Base Plane Using NanoMotion InchWorm Motors

To accommodate NanoMotion InchWorm Motors into the base plane requires raising the base faces by extending the mounting pins.  We rely on the base plane circuit board to mechanically fix the mounting pins, making assembly somewhat more difficult.  Here is an "X-Ray" view of the motors below the base cells.