Flyfire

Flyfire, a project initiated by the SENSEable City Laboratory in collaboration with ARES Lab (Aerospace Robotics and Embedded Systems Laboratory) aims to transform any ordinary space into a highly immersive and interactive display environment.

In its first implementation, the Flyfire project sets out to explore the capabilities of this display system by using a large number of self-organizing micro helicopters. Each helicopter contains small LEDs and acts as a smart pixel. Through precisely controlled movements, the helicopters perform elaborate and synchronized motions and form an elastic display surface for any desired scenario.

With the self-stabilizing and precise controlling technology from the ARES Lab, the motion of the pixels is adaptable in real time. The Flyfire canvas can transform itself from one shape to another or morph a two-dimensional photographic image into an articulated shape. The pixels are physically engaged in transitioning images from one state to another, which allows the Flyfire canvas to demonstrate a spatially animated viewing experience.

Flyfire serves as an initial step to explore and imagine the possibilities of this free-form display: a swarm of pixels in a space.

For more information, please contact:
senseable-fly@mit.edu

• Category

  Science & Technology

[Jo Veteran]

So you'd need "a few... server racks" AKA a SUPERCOMPUTER and about 800.000 gyros, motors, circuits for a resolution as low as 1024x768 and x 3 that amount for color LEDs. You'd also need, a huge transmitter to "speak" to each pixel individually, talking about huge bandwidth need here

Sure! That sounds feasible... and inexpensive! Why haven't they done that already? I am shocked! :O

But with comments like

"wind doesnt matter" and "do you know what a gyro does"... Nothing more to say, seriously.

[guilleriff]

Publicity in our sky?? If this tecnology becomes in publicity, then it sucks. Hope not.

[Jo Veteran]

10908070605040302 random guy without an avatar so probably a troll by the looks of it.

This is BACKWARDS thinking technology. You are wrong into thinking it's a few years off tech, it can be done TODAY, and it'd sure look pretty, but it's way far from also being described as "practical" or "useful", and even toilet paper is useful!

It's money, energy and material consuming with no real gain.

Please, try and prove me wrong in my reasoning that answering a 3 year old comment is a really bad idea.

[10908070605040302]

Take the stick out of your ass man, its an idea. obviously a few years off in technology and computer capability just somebodys imagination and could possibly be acheived

[ABW941]

How long can they stay in the air?

If such a "display" should work for a while they will have to be reloaded.

[Luminapolis]

One of the favorites of Luminapolis Channel

[Nielssonnich]

Where can I buy a couple of these ?

[elpresidio]

The coordinated sync idea will spawn greater ideas. The next level will be to coordinated nanobots that will go inside a body and fix people's inside up.

[Prytanus]

Now imagine that instead of light, each chopper contains a remote controlled detonator and a grenade...

Swarm warfare has arrived.

Thank you MIT.

[SesaayKimei395]

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[JeronemoTV]

Very nice concept, and nicely presented - But ... A firefly may need a wind free environment to survive

[threes4luck]

We'll have holograms in about 10 years (hell we have them now), but you can't carry a projector with you everywhere so I suppose these will be just as commonplace.

I still see them as being more for entertainment, and decoration though.