by Bo Rodda
The Active Light Cloud is an innovative approach to how we light the world of tomorrow. Using advanced computer vision that tracks any human movement against the basic static interior space, and inductively expands on that gesture to create an expanded field of pixel vectors, , the system is able to predict the user’s particular lighting needs. Users can throw light down a dark hallway or bring a cluster of task light with a single gesture. Most importantly it knows to turn off the lights once the room is empty, dramatically reducing energy consumption. The Active Light Cloud’s designer, Bo Rodda, is using a similar system to track the movements of a school of fish through a series of connected aquariums at the 2009 NeoCon conference this June in Chicago.
The functional prototype of Active Cloud Lighting was developed in collaboration with SAIC’s world renowned art and technology professors, most notably Matt Nelson, Systems Programmer, Ed Bennet, Electronic Systems Designer, Anna Yu, Systems Production Supervisor, and John Manning, System Executive Producer. The system’s programmed intelligence can be extended into a wide range of commercial and residential situations. Light switches might soon be replaced by a wide variety of gestures, controlling the affect and impact of our interior lighting in more intimate, fluid, intelligent, and environmentally conscious manner.