Press Release
Ali Shtarbanov Is Honored with the Silver A' Design Award for FlowIO Pneumatics Development Platform in Scientific Instruments and Research Equipment Design
Ali Shtarbanov acknowledged for scientific instruments and research equipment design by the international grand jury of the 2020 - 2021 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 23, 2021 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Silver A' Design Award in the Scientific Instruments and Research Equipment Design category for FlowIO Pneumatics Development Platform by Ali Shtarbanov, designed for Ali Shtarbanov, MIT Media Lab. The result belongs to the 2020 - 2021 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
About the Silver A' Design Award
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
More About FlowIO Pneumatics Development Platform
FlowIO is a pneumatics development platform for the control, actuation and sensing of soft robots and programmable materials. The main module integrates valves, sensors, a microcontroller, a battery and a charger. Pump modules connect magnetically and can be swapped during use, with small, medium and large options for different pressures and flow rates. The modules are enclosed in 3D printed snap-fit housings. A software toolkit adds mobile and desktop graphical interfaces, Bluetooth control and programming interfaces. FlowIO suits both desktop and wearable projects.
About Ali Shtarbanov
Ali Shtarbanov is a Human-Computer Interaction researcher and Ph.D. student at MIT Media Lab. He develops platforms, tools, and enabling technologies that empower makers, researchers, designers, and artists with new technological opportunities to rapidly bring projects and ideas to life, enabling them to create the futures they envision. Ali's primary mission is to make opportunities for creativity, prototyping, and innovation more seamless and more accessible for people from all technical and all socioeconomic backgrounds.
Award Record
Ali Shtarbanov is a winner of 1 A' Design Award, including this recognition.
About the A' Scientific Instruments and Research Equipment Design Award
The A' Scientific Instrument Design Award is an international competition recognizing good scientific instruments by leading designers and brands worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to scientific instrument designers, research equipment designers, industrial designers and mechanical engineers from all countries. Typical entries include microscopes, spectrometers, chromatographs, centrifuges, oscilloscopes and telescopes. The awarded scientific instrument designs are published at https://desingers.org/design-category/scientific-instrument
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://desingers.org/122452
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/122452
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!122452
- Laureate Profile: https://desingers.org/d/302495
- Further Information from the Laureate: http://www.softrobotics.io
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- FlowIO Pneumatics Development Platform
- Function
- Pneumatics Development Platform
- Category
- Scientific Instruments and Research Equipment Design
- Discipline
- Service Design
- Industry
- Manufacturing and Education
- Colors
- Silver, Lavender, Dark Gray, Gainsboro and Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Ali Shtarbanov, MIT Media Lab
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Ali Shtarbanov
- Country
- United States of America
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2020 - 2021
- Design ID
- #122452
Credits
- Team
- Hyejun Youn, Ozgun Afsar and Dr. Joseph Paradiso of MIT Media Lab
- Image Credits
- Ali Shtarbanov
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- FlowIO is a fully-integrated, general-purpose development platform for control of soft robots and programmable materials. With magnetically connected pump modules that are swappable on-the-fly, FlowIO can satisfy diverse project needs of researchers, artists, and makers. A software toolkit with mobile and desktop graphical interfaces, Bluetooth controls, and APIs for Arduino and JavaScript — enable users from any technical background to get started and unleash their creativity with FlowIO.
- Inspiration
- Arduino and Raspberry Pi democratized electronics and computing. FlowIO aims to democratize soft robotics and programmable materials in a similar way. The lack of development platforms for soft robotics makes the field highly inaccessible for most people and stifles innovation. The FlowIO platform was developed with the goal to democratized the emerging field of soft robotics and make rapid prototyping more accessible for researchers, artists, designers, and makers.
- Research
- Over a dozen people have used FlowIO to date, from PhD researchers and high-school students to makers and artists. It has enabled people to develop projects in various categories including interactivity, artistic expression, locomotion, telepresence, haptic feedback, and assistive technologies. Feedback was collected from existing and prospective users continuously to inform many of the design iterations. FlowIO was also used as a teaching tool in a graduate digital fabrication course at MIT.
- Challenge
- The main challenge was making FlowIO highly energy-efficient and miniaturized yet fully-integrated with pumps, valves, sensors, electronics, batteries. and even charging circuits. Other pneumatic platforms with far fewer capabilities are 5-10 times larger than FlowIO and they still require external pumps and/or power sources. Over a dozen design iterations were dedicated towards finding clever ways of reducing size. Developing multiple APIs and a cross-platform GUI was another major challenge.
- Realization and Technology
- FlowIO contains a main module, different pump modules, expansion modules, and accessories. The main module integrates 7 valves, 2 custom PCBs, sensors, microcontroller, and a battery with charger. Each pump module has 2 pumps, a custom PCB, and a battery with integrated charger. Auxiliary modules also consist of custom PCBs. The modules connect magnetically and are enclosed in 3D-printed snap-fit enclosures, that can be printed in any color. All hardware designs are made public and open-source.
- Operation and Interaction
- FlowIO enables users to rapidly bring soft robotics projects to life and to focus on developing actuators and experiences instead of spending time designing pneumatics, electronics, or writing control software. Miniature size, battery operation, and various modules and accessories make FlowIO suitable for both desktop and wearable applications involving inflation, vacuum, release, pressure sense, and flow variability. Multiple APIs and GUI make it possible for anyone to use the device with ease.
- Project Duration and Location
- FlowIO originated out of necessity as a system I made for my own research in soft robotics and morphable interfaces at MIT Media Lab. As many other researchers, makers, and artists showed strong interest and asked to use FlowIO in their own works, in late 2019 the idea was born to augment FlowIO into a truly general purpose pneumatics development platform suitable for everyone. FlowIO has now undergone over 20 prototype iterations, with numerous new features added during those iterations.
- Specifications
- Five pneumatic I/O ports, each capable of 7 actions, and three swappable pump modules (small, medium, large) can satisfy different needs for pressures (-26 to 30 psi), size, and flow-rates. FlowIO with small pumps has dimensions 59x55x28 mm and mass of only 114g. Expansion modules and accessories enable additional sensing, control, and mounting options for both wearable and nonwearable applications. BLE Capability, multiple APIs, and a GUI enable diverse options for interacting with FlowIO.
- Keywords
- Development Platform, Toolkit, Pneumatic Control System, Soft Robotics, Programmable Materials, Shape Change, Tangible User Interface, Wearables, Arduino, Raspberry Pi
