AutomaTiles Tangible Cellular Automata for Playful Engagement with Systems Thinking by Jonathan Bobrow B.A. University of California Los Angeles, 2008 Submitted to the Program in Media Arts and Sciences, School of Architecture and Planning, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Media Arts and Sciences at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY June 2016 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2016. All rights reserved. Signature of author: Signature redacted Jonathan Bobrow Program in Media Arts and Sciences May 6, 2016 /Y, Certified by: Signature redacted Kevin Slavin Assistant Professor of Media Arts and Sciences Thesis Supervisor Accepted by: Signature redacted Pattie Maes, Ph.D. MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE Academic Head OF TECHNOLOGY (0) LUJ Program in Media Arts and Sciences JUL 14 2016 LIBRARIES 2 AutomaTiles I Tangible Cellular Automata for Playful Engagement with Systems Thinking by Jonathan Bobrow Submitted to the Program in Media Arts and Sciences, School of Architecture and Planning, May 6, 2015 in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Media Arts and Sciences Abstract There is an increasingly vital awareness that our world is an aggregate of complex systems, emergent behavior, and system dynamics. The perceptual and analytical tools for exploring and studying these systems, however, have generally been relegated to scientists (whether mathematicians, physicists, biologists, economists, or computer scientists). Thus, as more and more people become aware of such systems, most people are still excluded from engaging with complex systems. By inventing a new tool and interface, consisting of playful objects called AutomaTiles, I propose a new approach for fostering a more aware society of systems thinkers. AutomaTiles provide a three-tiered approach to making systems thinking more accessible. Firstly, AutomaTiles are a friendly and approachable set of playful objects; seen simply as toys, they afford the surprising effects of emergent behavior when brought together in aggregate. Secondly, AutomaTiles can be a tool for exploring collective behavior, distributed algorithms, and models of systems (whether forest fires or social phenomena) from a hands-on perspective. Lastly, AutomaTiles are a new kind of platform for games, bringing computational intelligence to table-top games, bringing together the social dynamics of face- to-face interaction with the complexity afforded by conventional video-games. Expanding the work on the future of board games from Playful Systems, we have created a novel digital- physical interface for playing games that allows for modes of gameplay never before possible in a table-top game. This thesis will illustrate the design decisions and affordances of AutomaTiles as a platform for engaging with these three tiers of the exploration and manipulation of complex systems. Thesis Supervisor: Kevin Slavin Title: Assistant Professor of Media Arts and Sciences 3 4 AutomaTiles I Tangible Cellular Automata for Playful Engagement with Systems Thinking by Jonathan Bobrow The following served as a reader for this thesis. Signature redacted Radhika Nagpal, Ph.D. Core Faculty, Wyss Institute Professor Harvard SEAS 5 AutomaTiles I Tangible Cellular Automata for Playful Engagement with Systems Thinking by Jonathan Bobrow The following served as a reader for this thesis. Signature redacted Mitchel Resnick, Ph.D. Professor of Media Arts and Sciences MIT Media Lab 6 Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without my advisor Kevin Slavin, my Playful Systems group mates, Che-Wei Wang, Taylor Levy, Julie Legault, Kamal Farah, Greg Borenstein, Shoshana Tekofsky, Miguel Perez, Mike Lazer-Walker, and Benjamin Berman. I would also like to thank my readers, Mitchel Resnick and Radhika Nagpal, whose literature influenced me long ago and for their support and critical suggestions from the start of the process. I would like to thank the Undergraduates who assisted in the realization of AutomaTiles firstly with Claire Patterson, who modeled the first cases to contain the electronics and Joshua Sloane, who creatively solved problems and shared my excitement from the beginning with the possibilities of AutomaTiles as a new platform for discovery and play. The Media Lab is a beautiful garden of minds, and I consider myself lucky to have been planted so generously there. This list of names is far from complete, but the following people have had a constant presence in the work, from small play tests, to whiteboard sessions or late night hacking. Here is a list of minds I feel indebted to: Amanda Ghassaei Joi Ito Neil Gershenfeld Chikara Inamura Shantell Martin John Difrancesco Palash Nandy Marko Ahtissari Tom Lutz Tomer Weller Linda Peterson Jie Qi Keira Horowitz Greg Leppert Jessica Tsymbal Kevin Davis If not for the constant support of my partner, Jamie Tsukamaki, from molding or casting parts, to assembling or even simply playing, I cannot imagine realizing my vision with such clarity. With critical feedback and a killer Tortilla soup, Jamie helped keep my momentum through the rollercoaster MIT calls grad school. In the complex system with which I grew up, my family has always been there to send love and support through the best and worst of times. My mother Susan, sister Jennifer, brother Adam have all contributed to and embraced my curiosity from a young age, and for that I am grateful. 7 For my dad. I would like to dedicate this thesis to my father, coach and role model for life, Jerry Bobrow. He inspired my love of mathematics, my constant drive to learn from as well as teach others, and what it meant to be part of a team. As an author of far more valuable (or at least widely distributed) literature, he would have delighted in sharing this period of my life with me and so I wish to share this thesis in his name. I was lucky then and I am still lucky now. 8 Table of Contents AutomaTiles I Tangible Cellular Automata for Playful Engagement with Systems Thinking ... 1 A b s t ra c t ......................................................................................................................................................................... 3 A c k n o w le d g e m e n ts .................................................................................................................................................. 7 T a b le o f C o n te n ts ...................................................................................................................................................... 9 1. In tro d u c t io n .......................................................................................................................................................... 11 1.1. Broadening systems thinking and making richer tabletop experiences 1.2. A platform for playing with systems 1.3. Three tiered approach for playing with systems thinking 2 . B a c k g ro u n d ......................................................................................................................................................... 12 2.1. Scientists 2.2. Artists 2.3. Precedents 3 . A p p ro a c h ............................................................................................................................................................ 2 2 3.1. Software 3.2. Hardware 3.3. Design Thinking 4 . H a rd w a re ............................................................................................................................................................ 3 0 4.1. Prototyping 4.2. Form Follows Function... 4.3. Electronics 4.4. Firmware 4.5. API 5 . G a m e s .................................................................................................................................................................. 3 7 5.1. Prior Experience 5.2. Game Making 5.3. First Steps: Game of Life 5.4. Lifegrams 5.5. Forest Fires 5.6. Fracture: A Game about Diversity 5.7. Prototyping Ruleset 5.8. Best Practices 5.9. Future Game Exploration 6 . C o n c lu s io n ......................................................................................................................................................... 5 1 9 6.1. Toy 6.2.Tool 6.3. Games 6.4. Future of Systems Thinking B ib liog rap hy ......................................................................................................................................................... 57 A ppend ix ............................................................................................................................................................... 59 A . P C B s .................................................................................................................................................................. 59 B . A P I .................................................................................................................................................................... 60 C . N otes fro m G am e D esig n W o rksho p ................................................................................................. 6 3 D . N otes fro m M IT P lay D ay W orkshop ................................................................................................. 64 E. First d raw ing s of A uto m aT iles ............................................................................................................. 65 10 1. Introduction While the HCI community has made strides in how we communicate with one another and augment our