19. Invention, intellectual property and income

Dissemination plan and future possibilities

This project marks a first real attempt to expand my capabilities as a designer — moving from a background in 3D design and architecture into electronics, embedded systems, and physical input/output. It’s an achievement on several levels.

First, on a personal level, it opens a new creative practice. I hope to build on this experience and grow into a multidisciplinary designer working across digital fabrication, kinetic art, installation design, and artisanal craft — developing a practice where advanced digital tools enable craft rather than replace it, working past the false binary between the artificial and the handmade. Fab Lab gave me the technical grounding in digital fabrication and electronics; the next step is integrating that grounding with material processes and traditional ways of working.

Second, as a former design educator, I see real potential in bringing these skills and ways of working into pedagogical models — teaching design through the same combination of digital tools and material craft this project required. Third, more specifically, this project is a starting point for a longer-term interest in mathematical sculpture and kinetic art — using geometry not just as a formal device but as the structural and conceptual basis for moving, physical work.

Dissemination plan

I plan to keep this project fully open source — the documentation, design files, and code will remain freely available for others to study, adapt, or build on.

Current	Future plan
Mechanism worked out — three-shaft system, bevel gears at the dodecahedron’s native angle	Push the geometric language further — explore quasi-crystals and crystallography beyond the dodecahedron
Movement proven — single shaft, two-axis, full motorized system tested	Remake the structure in brazed steel, replacing the resin and wood prototype
Basic structure — resin-printed joints and wood rods	Integrate a light element directly into the mechanism, so lighting becomes part of the kinetic system rather than added afterward