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

3D打印机和激光切割机等数字制造设备越来越多地为非专业人士所用，许多此类设备的价格已经达到几乎任何家庭都可以拥有的水平。 尽管已经对这种设备生产新物体的能力给予了很多关注，但是现有物体的修复和/或定制（例如，延长或恢复受损物品的效用或将创造性的个性化应用于大规模生产的物品）对于日常消费者可能同样具有吸引力。 虽然存在用于设计用于制造的对象的工具，但它们主要是复杂的并且适合于专业人员或高度积极的业余爱好者，并且为使用现有对象的用户提供很少或根本没有支持。 PI在该项目中的目标是解决这些缺点，以减少目前使用数字制造技术的高障碍。 为此，他将开发一个研究计划，探索增强/数字制造系统，允许用户直接结合相关的现有对象进行设计和制造，而不是局限于传统的计算机辅助设计界面。 为了在目标社区的成员中加强工作的传播，PI将开源他的原型软件。增强现实，有形界面和数字制造方面的先前工作表明，使用直接操作实现快速迭代设计过程将增强非专家用户设计期望结果的能力，并了解设备的输出将是什么。 PI将利用这项研究，为非专家用户提供原型和研究增强制造系统，分为四类：（将现有物体放入数字制造机器并围绕该物体进行设计）;（在预先设计之后的步骤，用给定的物体制造）;现场设计（设计一个物体或在发现或将使用的地方设计一个物体）;和原位制造（进行数字制造，结果将被使用）。 这些领域中的每一个都需要将现有对象的信息纳入设计的方法，以及系统向用户传达制造结果的方法。 PI将围绕智能工具进行研究，使用户能够捕获有关现有对象的相关信息，并输出机制，以帮助用户了解在制造开始时对象将如何改变或增强。

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.