FOXP is an interactive observation tower featuring a double-helix spiraling stair/slide, a large viewing platform, and tailored shadows. Its hyperboloidal exterior and helicoidal interior are both redundant tensegrity constructions. The pictured configuration, 42' high and wide, is designed to fold for transport inside a standard 53' tractor trailer.

FOXP is a large tensile tower with an inner double helix in which participants ascend and descend, re-enacting evolution's meandering climb from robot-like prokaryotes to sentient primates, and rehearsing our slide from the pinnacle of sentience in a future where robots may surpass us. FOXP is named after human FOXP2, a regulatory gene implicated in humans' (currently) unique powers of language.

STATUS: On hiatus due to problems sourcing poles with honest metallurical reports. Switching efforts to Virascope Alpha.

Comments, suggestions:

UPDATES, most recent first:

2018.04.27 Project on hiatus due to timeline slippage.

2018.04.06 Pole metal samples have failed yield/brittleness tests. Looking for new vendors.

2018.04.01 Vendors identified for cabling and brackets.

2018.03.23 Metal out for testing to check against metallurgy sheets.

2018.03.18 Pole vendor metal samples have arrived!

2018.02.20 Parametric CAD sketch and on-site assembly plan are complete with verified static stability. Sourcing parts.

2018.01.27 1st exoskeleton maquette.

2018.01.22 Design work on sheathing for post-BM installations

2018.01.16 Next round of grant applications out.

2018.01.10 Initial budget and work schedule (400+ tasks/items!)

2017.12.10 Seed funding!

2017.11.18 On-site assembly plans (with and without cranes).

2017.11.04 Upgraded slide to smooth, banked design. Worked out planar development for min-cut sheet metal forming.

2017.10.21 Added a stair and segmented slide in skew double-helix formation. Contemplating handrails.

2017.10.07 Added helicoid, viewing platform, and safety rail to prismatic design.

2017.09.23 Parametric CAD for sail and prismatic tensegrities. Worked out optimal geometry for strength / static stability.

Design by Zintaglio Arts. See our previous BM projects: Gnomon and Virascope Alpha.

© 2008-2017 Matt Brand. All rights reserved. Trademark & patents pending.