Sentience

Author

• Sheetal AgrawalFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-22-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Industrial Design

Department

Industrial Design

First Advisor

Beth Mosher

Second Advisor

Peter Yeadon

Third Advisor

Charlotte McCurdy

Abstract

The increasing urgency for sustainable and adaptive systems has driven research toward embedding intelligence directly into materials rather than relying solely on external sensing and control systems. This thesis explores how smart material1 embedded systems can be designed to recognize and respond to environmental signatures, defined as measurable patterns such as temperature fluctuations and mechanical forces. Central to this investigation is the integration of shape memory alloys, particularly Nitinol, with geometry-based actuation mechanisms that amplify material behavior into functional system responses.

The central argument is that designing with smart materials is a design problem, not primarily a materials science problem — one requiring attentiveness to ecological context, geometric intelligence, material behavior, and the ethics of what designed systems do to the environments they enter. The two phases of this research are complementary instruments for developing this argument. Phase I is synthetic: it takes three specific ecological problems and demonstrates that passive smart material interventions can be calibrated to meet them. Phase II is analytic: it isolates geometry as a design variable and examines how its systematic variation changes actuation behavior across five geometric families. Together they build a design vocabulary as a set of demonstrated principles for a design practice organized around material intelligence and responsiveness.

Recommended Citation

Agrawal, Sheetal, "Sentience" (2026). Masters Theses. 1568.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1568

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