Museum Robot: Open Industrial Design Competition

DigGLAM: “Digitizing Small-sized Galleries, Libraries, Archives & Museum
(GLAM) Collections” is a short-term Aalto Media Factory funded Project involving
digitization of the collections of small local museums using Gado2, an autonomous open
source robotic scanner initially developed by Johns Hopkins University & currently under
development through a collaboration between Systems of Representation – Media Lab &
Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Aalto University.

The task of the competition is to design an outer casing (enclosure) of the Robot arm and
associated components and a physical deployment platform for the Robotic Scanner based
on the specifications provided by the Project Team.

The selected design may be tested via building workable prototypes at the Fab Lab of the
Aalto Media Factory & other fabrication facilities such as ADD-Lab within Aalto University.

The final design should demonstrate fluent operations and would be implemented on-site at the museums.

The designer will have aptitude in industrial design, digital visualizations and be able to
articulate design ideas by 3D-Modeling, 3D-Printing and Rapid Prototyping. Knowledge of
working with electronics, plastics, sensors, motors, and microprocessors (such as Arduino)
is needed. The designer may utilize the research undertaken, and lessons learnt from this
project as part of their own academic research. The final design will be licensed under
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) license and all 3D files and documentation submitted to the Competition organizers.

Open Day: Wednesday 02 October 2013, 13.00 – 1600:
Discussion with Project Team & viewing of Robot at the Department of Computer Science
& Engineering, Konemiehentie 2, 02150 Espoo. Room No. A328

Schedule:
▪ Phase 1: Initial Design Concept submissions Deadline: 15 October 2013.
▪ Phase 2: Selection of Final Design: 22 October 2013 by a Panel Jury.
▪ Phase 3: Final Built Design: 1000 euros awarded upon final delivery and implementation
(Prototype model built and tested) by 10 December 2013. Prize money might be
subject to Taxation.

Submission Requirements:
▪ Perspective / Axonometric Views of the Design (pdf)
▪ Dimensioned drawings in elevation, section and plan (pdf)
▪ 3D – STL files
▪ Appropriate Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0 license) marking for the submission
▪ Brief Concept in text (pdf)
▪ Designer CV & Portfolio (max. 3 samples)
▪ All contents of the Submission should be in a Zip file attachment (max.10mb).

Blog for Info and updates: https://blogs.aalto.fi/museumrobot/

Organizers have the right to update, revise, and terminate the competition.

Submissions & Info: samir.bhowmik@aalto.fi / Samir Bhowmik – Systems of Representation, Media Lab, Aalto ARTS.