Intermittent Interaction with Fabrication Devices

Abstract

Personal fabrication devices such as fused deposition modeling 3D printers are fairly slow, often produce lots of waste, and a fully automated fabrication process can take away the cognitive value of crafting something by hand. Interactive fabrication is instead often limited in scope or fidelity of the fabricated items as it requires constant user guidance. However, intermittent user interactions during the fabrication process are sufficient to alleviate downsides of the fabrication process, and direct user involvement can provide a similar personal connection as crafting does. This thesis explores the space of intermittent user interactions in between automated and interactive fabrication. An initial investigation enables physical user interactions during ongoing fabrication processes to reduce internal support material waste. A study with fabrication experts reveals sources of waste and a desire to intervene to take sustainable action. To address external support material as an additional source of waste we investigate more complex or more frequent user interactions. A technical evaluation quantifies the trade-off between increased user involvement and material savings. We investigate frequent interaction during fabrication by enabling sewing on unmodified 3D printers. Our technical evaluation situates the design space of fabricated seams next to traditional stitch patterns. We then examine the spectrum of user involvement during fabrication as a whole through parametric partial assembly tasks. The qualitative analysis of our survey reveal the perceived value of intermittent interaction, scheduling preferences, and design guidelines how systems can offer effective manual interaction options.