CAREER: Interactive Morphing Materials

该项目将探索一种材料驱动的方法来设计柔软或具有可调刚度的可改变形状的界面。然而，大多数这样的界面需要嵌入刚性电子元件，相反，交互变形材料的固有结构和其他特性驱动了它们的传感和驱动能力，从整体形状变化到刚度、不透明度和相位等特性的动态调整。由于它们的特性是固有的，因此许多这些材料可以制成薄片或薄膜，以支持需要一致性和合规性的医疗和可穿戴设备等应用。例如，想象一个变形石膏，它可以通过缠绕在手臂上来自我组装。为了确保自包装过程中的一致性，板材上的孔的初始模式随后会通过铸件的自生长和自硬化来密封。在愈合过程中，随着手臂的肿胀和收缩，石膏会感觉到这些变化，并根据需要自我收紧或自我放松；随着愈合的进展，它也可能逐渐自我降解，变得更轻、更灵活。该项目将为未来奠定基础，在未来，物理材料将成为动态感知和响应的界面，以支持计算交互模式的基本转变。由于变形材料可以应用于人类活动的许多方面，研究成果将在广泛的领域为社会提供广泛的利益，包括可访问性，学习，未来劳动力发展和可持续制造。研究团队将采取多方面的方法，并将研究与课程和独立研究紧密结合起来，以便使用交互式变形材料，设计原则框架，变形机制库，促进利用变形材料创建界面的设计工具，以及验证变形材料界面有效性的正式设计研究来生成一系列原型。该项目将在与领域专家、设计专业学生和设计专业人士的参与式设计会议中聚集现有和潜在的交互式变形材料场景的示例，以了解他们可以想象创造什么，并弄清楚他们的想法如何映射到关键的设计参数，包括行为（时间和几何）、输入和输出模式（例如，光响应自强化）和功能。将执行以这些想法为基础的原型，并通过进行用户研究（包括半结构化访谈和问卷前后调查），将制订一项一般评价计划和从质量和数量上验证业绩的标准。随后将开发包含变形机制库的工具包，作为接口设计的组件。这些机制将有两种基本类型：一种是将物理模拟刺激（如湿度或温度）转换为变形输出，另一种是可以用数字信号激活的。除了机构开发之外，还将创建基于几何原理的计算工具，这些工具可以在不同的物理变形原理之间进行推广。通过机器学习和有限元分析的集成，将利用快速准确的模拟器来推导底层计算模型的几何原理，并应用设计方法和使能工具对三个应用领域进行深入研究：先进制造，变形可穿戴设备和创造性工作的未来。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will explore a material-driven approach to designing shape-changing interfaces that are either soft or possess tunable stiffness. Whereas most such interfaces require embedded rigid electronic components, in contrast the inherent structural and other properties of interactive morphing materials drive their sensing and actuation capabilities, from overall shape change to the dynamic tuning of characteristics such as stiffness, opacity, and phase. Because their properties are intrinsic, many of these materials can be fabricated as thin sheets or films in support of applications such as medical and wearable devices that require conformability and compliance. Imagine a morphing cast, for example, that could self-assemble by wrapping around the arm. The initial pattern of holes on the sheet to ensure conformability during the self-wrapping would subsequently seal via self-growth and self-stiffening of the cast. During the healing process, as the arm swells and shrinks, the cast would sense those changes and self-tighten or self-loosen as required; it might also self-degrade gradually to become lighter and more flexible as healing progresses. This project will lay the foundation for a future where physical materials become interfaces that sense and respond dynamically in support of a fundamental transformation in computational interaction modalities. Since morphing materials can be applied to many aspects of human endeavor, research outcomes will provide broad benefits to society in a wide range of areas including accessibility, learning, future workforce development and sustainable manufacturing. The research team will take a multifaceted approach and tightly couple the research with courses and independent studies in order to generate a range of prototypes using interactive morphing materials, a framework of design principles, a library of morphing mechanisms, a design tool that facilitates the creation of interfaces leveraging morphing materials, and a formal design study to validate the effectiveness of a morphing material interface. The project will start by clustering examples of existing and potential interactive morphing material scenarios in participatory design sessions with domain experts, design students, and design professionals to learn what they can imagine creating and figure out how their ideas can be mapped to critical design parameters, including behavior (both temporal and geometrical), input and output modalities (e.g., light-responsive self-stiffening), and functionality. Prototypes based on these ideas will be implemented, and by conducting user studies (including semi-structured interviews and pre- and post-questionnaires), a general evaluation plan and metrics for validating performance both qualitatively and quantitatively will be formulated. This will be followed by development of toolkits incorporating a library of morphing mechanisms presented as components for interface design. These mechanisms will be of two basic types: those that convert physical, analog stimulus (such as wetness or temperature) into morphing output, and those that can be activated with a digital signal. In addition to mechanism development, computational tools based on geometrical principles that can be generalized across different physical morphing principles will be created. A fast and accurate simulator enabled by the integration of machine learning and finite element analysis will be leveraged to derive the geometrical principles of the underlying computational model, and the design methods and enabling tools will be applied to conduct in-depth investigations of three application areas: advanced manufacturing, morphing wearables, and the future of creative work.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.