Now More Than Ever: computational thinking and a science of design

Abstract

Revolutions in desktop manufacturing and embedded computing are changing the way we make things. These changes will enable citizens to engineer and manufacture their own goods. The role of the designer is also changing, deciding on the manufacture of specific artifacts, to setting the bounds and rules for decisions that end-users make. Materials are changing tool : Programmable matter made of ensembles of modular robots demands new and dynamic ways of describing designs. A science of design is an essential element for benefiting from these revolutions, and it is likely that a science of design will be expressed computationally.