FormFab : Towards Shape Exploration in Interactive Fabrication

XRDS: Crossroads, The ACM Magazine for Students, 2016

Despite the recent proliferation of easy-to-use personal fabrication devices, designing custom objects that are useful remains challenging. RFID technology can allow designers to easily embed rich and robust interaction in custom creations at low cost.

The Visual Computer, 2012

We present design principles for conceiving tangible user interfaces for the interactive physically-based deformation of 3D models. Based on these design principles, we developed a first prototype using a passive tangible user interface that embodies the 3D model. By associating an arbitrary reference material with the user interface, we convert the displacements of the user interface into forces required by physically-based deformation models. These forces are then applied to the 3D model made out of any material via a physical deformation model. In this way, we compensate for the absence of direct haptic feedback, which allows us to use a force-driven physically-based deformation model. A user N. Takouachet ( ) · N. Couture · P. Reuter · P. Joyot · G. Rivière · N. study on simple deformations of various metal beams shows that our prototype is usable for deformation with the user interface embodying the virtual beam. Our first results validate our design principles, plus they have a high educational value for mechanical engineering lectures.

eCAADe proceedings

This paper explores the geometric affordances of aluminium through flexible robotic workflows. The geometric abundance of the discussed workflows goes beyond what the state-of-the-art industrial metal forming processes offer, and is achieved with simpler means. Two fabrication methodologies, folding and pressing, were explored in order to convert flat, straight panels into twisted, 3-dimensional shapes. The design method for both fabrication strategies was based on physics simulation, where several geometrical constraints force a real time deformation while maintaining the properties of a developable strip. In the first fabrication approach, directionality of the rulings is first engraved into the material while the folding angle is controlled by the robotic setup with two gripping stations. The second fabrication approach refers to a forming process. This has been achieved by installing a wheel cutter on a small workshop hydraulic press and a robot feeding the material into the forming station. The design-to-production pipelines are automated and designed for a small payload robot that allows for a large variety of geometric possibilities. Fabrication challenges of both processes have been documented and assessed, while workflow optimization scenarios and future improvements are proposed in the outlook.

2018

We present Sketch It, Make It (SIMI), a tool for designing precise models for rapid fabrication. SIMI provides a novel recognition and disambiguation architecture that supports designers in using penbased interaction techniques without requiring users to enter persistent modes. The suite of pen-based interaction techniques let the designer fluidly transition from rough ideas to precise output within a single tool. These techniques are for creating geometry, issuing gestures that edit the model, and for creating, enforcing, and maintaining geometric constraints. The architecture demonstrated in this system could be applied more broadly in other domains, including 3D modeling or graphic design.

Multimodal technologies and interaction, 2024

Deployable kinematic structures can transform themselves from a small closed configuration to a large deployed one. These structures are widely used in many engineering fields including aerospace, architecture, robotics and to some extent within HCI. In this paper, we investigate the use of a symmetric spherical deployable structure and its application to interface control. We present HoberUI, a bimanual symmetric tangible interface with 7 degrees of freedom and explore its use for manipulating 3D environments. We base this on the toy version of the deployable structure called the Hoberman sphere, which consists of pantographic scissor mechanisms and is capable of homogeneous shrinkage and expansion. We first explore the space for designing and implementing interactions through such kinematic structures and apply this to 3D object manipulation. We then explore HoberUI's usability through a user evaluation that shows the intuitiveness and potential of using instrumented kinematic structures as input devices for bespoke applications.

Sixteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction, 2022

4D printing is a new technique for human-computer interaction to create self bending and actuating interfaces, leveraging the properties of 3D printed materials for shape change over time, triggered by external factors such as heat. Given the ubiquity of low-cost 3D printers, we see an opportunity to translate 4D printing from the research lab into makerspaces and educational settings. In this work, we explore low cost 4D printing with shape memory polymers and desktop 3D printers, tackling hybrid fabrication approach to lower the barrier for non-experts. We see heat as one promising way of creating shape changing behaviors using common triggering methods such as oven, hair dryer, hot water. We present the initial design space for hybrid fabrication with factors that help characterize and control bending behaviors, showcasing potential design contexts with 4D printed applications.

CAADRIA proceedings

Advances in computational modelling and digital fabrication have created both the need and ability for novel strategies of bringing digitally modeled doubly curved surfaces into reality. In this paper, we introduce airforming as a non-contact and formwork-free method for fabricating digitally designed surfaces through the iterative robotic application of heat and air pressure, coupled with sensory feedback. The process lies somewhere between incremental metal fabrication and traditional vacuum forming of plastics. Airforming does not add or subtract material or use any mold or formwork materials that would typically be discarded as waste. Instead, airforming shapes a plastic sheet through the controlled spatial application of heat and the control of pressure and vacuum within an airtight chamber beneath the material. Through our research, we develop and test a method for airforming through 3D scanning and point cloud analysis, evolutionary physics simulation solvers, and robotic-aided actuation and control of heating and pressure systems. Different variations and analysis and workflow methods are explored. We demonstrate and posit potential future applications for the airforming method.

Proceedings - SBIM 2011: ACM SIGGRAPH / Eurographics Symposium on Sketch-Based Interfaces and Modeling, 2011

In my research group, we create interactive devices that integrate directly with the user's body. These devices are the natural succession to wearable interfaces and are designed to investigate how interfaces will connect to our body in a more direct and personal way. Previously, I explored a subset of this concept: interactive devices that interface with the user's muscles. These devices actuate the user's body by means of computer-controlled electrical muscle stimulation (EMS). These devices: (1) enable eyes-free access to information by means of stimulating proprioception, and (2) increase immersion in virtual reality by simulating large forces, such physical impact or heavy objects. My interactive systems move past mobile and wearable computing by borrowing parts of the user's body to interact with the user, resulting in devices that are not only exceptionally small, but that also implement a novel interaction model, in which devices integrate directly with the user's body. Most recently, we were able to generalize this concept to engineering a novel way to interface with the sense of temperature and sense of smell. Outside of academia, my work has captured the interest of the mainstream media, such as New York Times, MIT Technology Review, NBC, Discovery Channel, New Scientist, Wired and has been demonstrated to the public at Ars Electronica and World Economic Forum. My research videos have also captured the interest of the public eye, with more than 500k views on YouTube.

Symmetry

This paper proposes a novel tangible interface system to enhance the immersive experience in virtual reality environments. The proposed system allows representing physical properties of the tool, such as the deflection of the elastic rods, which users handle in a virtual and physical environment. This system is composed of two parts; one is an articulated interface to visually represent the physical behavior and the other is a computational algorithm that can compute a set of 6-DOF positions of the links. The proposed computational algorithm extends an active contour model, which is used primarily in computer vision and image processing, incorporating a spring and damping constraint energy functional. An elastic rod is modeled as a series of rigid line segments with a symmetric relationship between neighboring segments, and its shape is modeled to be influenced by energies that are induced by a user, and the external deformation of the spline. The symmetric and sparse properties of the proposed model enable an efficient energy minimization process, and the modification of a number of the line segments. Based on this configuration, we construct an energy generation method based on the positional displacement of the base element to generate the deflection behavior of the contour according to the user's motion in the space. Therefore, the physical device can simulate a variety of deformable objects by modulating energy parameters during the energy minimization process. Experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of emulating various behaviors of deformable splines, and applying to virtual reality system without interfering with the motion-to-photon latency. We also discuss the method's limitations and explore its potential.

Symposium on Computational Fabrication

Figure 1: Craft-inspired fabrication is based on a new interaction modality of regeneration, i.e., execution of a fabrication action sequence based on manual interactions on-the-fly.