In this blog post, we’ll take a look at new media art—a field that’s gaining attention in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering—and the research areas associated with it.
Can you imagine life without machines? If machines didn’t exist, it would be impossible to even write this question down on this piece of paper. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering is a field that covers a wide range of disciplines—including automotive, aerospace, space, and robotics technologies—that play a significant role in our daily lives. This is generally considered the scope of mechanical engineering. However, as technology rapidly becomes more complex and convergent, the department is now also researching fields that may not seem directly related to Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at first glance. Examples include ultra-fine MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) technology, nanotechnology, mechatronics, biomechanics, and sports engineering. In this article, I would like to introduce “New Media Art,” one of the emerging research areas within Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
New media refers to new forms of media that have emerged alongside the development of digital technology, as opposed to traditional media such as newspapers, television, and radio. New media art is a concept that encompasses art that utilizes or is based on these new media, or new technologies. Since it utilizes new media, the art discussed here can take forms different from traditional painting or sculpture. For example, artworks created using smartphones, as well as large-scale mobiles that move in increasingly complex and sophisticated ways by utilizing light reflection, new materials, and kinematic principles, can all be classified as new media art.
At first glance, one might wonder why new media art is studied in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. This is because the word “art” itself seems far removed from the department, which is strongly associated with images of metal and machinery. However, if we look at it from a slightly different perspective, the reason becomes clear. To paint, one must know how to handle a brush; to sculpt, one must be skilled at using a chisel. Similarly, to create new media art, one must fully understand and be able to utilize new media—the new forms of media and technology. Just as mastering a brush or a chisel requires a great deal of time and effort, new media—being based on cutting-edge technology—demands a deep understanding of the relevant technologies, engineering knowledge, and diverse experience. For these reasons, new media art has established itself as an important research topic within the field of mechanical and aerospace engineering.
Let’s now take a look at the research being conducted by the New Media Lab, which studies new media art within the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. This lab conducts a variety of research projects that fuse art and engineering, and recently, it has been actively utilizing various interactive technologies, including smartphones and depth-sensing sensors.
Smartphones are already widely available, and many people are familiar with using them. On the other hand, Kinect may seem somewhat unfamiliar. Kinect is a motion-sensing device released by Microsoft; it is a sensor capable of recognizing the movements of people and objects in three dimensions. The device is equipped with both a standard color camera and a depth sensor that measures depth information, enabling real-time analysis of spatial environments and human movement. This technology has been utilized in various fields, including not only gaming but also robotics, computer vision, augmented reality, and the creation of artworks.
Technologies such as smartphones and Kinect all fall under the category of new media. This laboratory actively leverages the characteristics of new media—interactivity, high scalability, and exceptional accessibility—which traditional media lack. Through this approach, we research new media that transcends conventional frameworks and connects more closely with human emotions, while developing diverse new media art that encourages a fresh perspective on the relationship between technology and humanity. Furthermore, the lab does not limit itself to applying new media to art; as technological advancements have made equipment that was once very expensive gradually more affordable and improved in performance, the lab is also conducting research on applying these technologies to everyday life. For example, these technologies are being utilized in various application areas, such as smartphone-based measurement technologies, smart home control, 3D scanning, autonomous driving, and robot vision.
Technological advancements—particularly the proliferation of smart devices and various digital technologies—have brought about significant changes across all aspects of our lives and industries. The scalability, interactivity, and accessibility of new media continue to evolve, and the industry is also shifting toward placing greater emphasis on human emotions and experiences. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, too, is moving beyond the traditional realm of mechanical engineering to converge with various cutting-edge technologies and the arts, evolving into a discipline that transcends its former rigid and cold image to embrace human-centered technology.
