Abstract
Printflatables is a design and fabrication system for human-scale, functional and dynamic inflatable objects. We use inextensible thermoplastic fabric as the raw material with the key principle of introducing folds and thermal sealing. Upon inflation, the sealed object takes the expected three dimensional shape. The workflow begins with the user specifying an intended 3D model which is decomposed to two dimensional fabrication geometry. This forms the input for a numerically controlled thermal contact iron that seals layers of thermoplastic fabric. In this paper, we discuss the system design in detail, the pneumatic primitives that this technique enables and merits of being able to make large, functional and dynamic pneumatic artifacts. We demonstrate the design output through multiple objects which could motivate fabrication of inflatable media and pressure-based interfaces.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | CHI 2017 - Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems |
| Subtitle of host publication | Explore, Innovate, Inspire |
| Publisher | Association for Computing Machinery |
| Pages | 3669-3680 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Volume | 2017-May |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781450346559 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 May 2 |
| Event | 2017 ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2017 - Denver, United States Duration: 2017 May 6 → 2017 May 11 |
Other
| Other | 2017 ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2017 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | Denver |
| Period | 17/5/6 → 17/5/11 |
Keywords
- 3D printing
- Digital fabrication
- Human-Material interaction
- Inflatables
- Radical atoms
- Shape changing
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design
- Software