CRII: CHS: Augmented Fabrication for Non-Expert Users of Digital Fabrication Systems

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Digital fabrication equipment such as 3D printers and laser cutters is becoming increasingly available to non-professionals, and many such devices have reached price points where nearly any household may own one. Although much attention has been paid to the ability of such equipment to produce new objects, the repair and/or customization of existing objects (e.g., to prolong or restore the utility of damaged objects or to apply creative personalizations to mass-produced items) is likely to be equally attractive to the everyday consumer. While tools exist for designing objects for fabrication, they are complex and appropriate mainly for professionals or highly-motivated hobbyists, and provide little or no support for users working with existing objects. The PI's goal in this project is to address these shortcomings, in order to reduce the currently high barrier to using digital fabrication technology. To this end, he will develop a research program to explore augmented/digital fabrication systems that allow users to design and fabricate directly in conjunction with the relevant existing object(s), rather than being constrained to traditional computer-aided design interfaces. To enhance dissemination of the work among members of the target community, the PI will open-source his prototype software.Prior work in augmented reality, tangible interfaces, and digital fabrication suggests that enabling a fast iterative design process using direct manipulation will enhance the ability of non-expert users to design a desired outcome and to understand what the output from the device will be. The PI will leverage this research to prototype and study augmented fabrication systems for non-expert users in four categories: design ad rem (placing an existing object into a digital fabrication machine and designing around that object); fabrication ad rem (the step following design ad rem, fabricating with the given object); design in situ (designing an object or with an object in the place where it is found or will be used); and fabrication in situ (performing the digital fabrication where the result will be used). Each of these areas requires methods to get information about existing objects into the design, and for the system to communicate to the user what the result of fabrication will be. The PI will conduct research around smart tools to enable a user to capture relevant information about existing objects, and output mechanisms to help the user understand how the objects will be changed or augmented when fabrication commences.