Reconfigurable physical interfaces empower users to swiftly adapt to tailored design requirements or preferences. Shape-changing interfaces enable such reconfigurability, avoiding the cost of refabrication or part replacements. Nonetheless, reconfigurable interfaces are often bulky, expensive, or inaccessible. We propose a reversible shape-changing mechanism that enables reconfigurable 3D printed structures via translations and rotations of parts. We investigate fabrication techniques that enable reconfiguration using magnets and the thermoplasticity of heated polymer. Proposed interfaces achieve tunable haptic feedback and adjustment of different user affordances by reconfiguring input motions. The design space is demonstrated through applications in rehabilitation, embodied communication, accessibility, safety, and gaming.

Within the domain of fabrication, the recent strides in Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) have sparked growing interest in its sustainability. In this work, we analyze the contemporary lifecycle of polymers consumed in FDM, a common and accessible fabrication technique. Then we outline the points of design intervention to reduce wasted polymers in fabrication. Specifically, we discuss the design intervention of Filament Wiring , a set of hybrid craft techniques to promote sustainable prototyping and robust applications by highlighting left-over filaments. Our techniques aim to enhance the understanding of filaments as a unique material for hybrid fabrication, fostering creativity. Through our computational design system, end users can generate 3D printable frames, for exploring the possibilities of filament-based fabrication beyond 3D printing. We hope to provoke thought about filament as its own form of material, having capabilities to be made, unmade, and remade repeatedly into various artifacts. With this outlook, we discuss future research avenues and urge makers and practitioners to value material in any form, quantity, or stage of its lifecycle.

4D printing is a new technique for human-computer interaction to create self bending and actuating interfaces, leveraging the properties of 3D printed materials for shape change over time, triggered by external factors such as heat. Given the ubiquity of low-cost 3D printers, we see an opportunity to translate 4D printing from the research lab into makerspaces and educational settings. In this work, we explore low cost 4D printing with shape memory polymers and desktop 3D printers, tackling hybrid fabrication approach to lower the barrier for non-experts. We see heat as one promising way of creating shape changing behaviors using common triggering methods such as oven, hair dryer, hot water. We present the initial design space for hybrid fabrication with factors that help characterize and control bending behaviors, showcasing potential design contexts with 4D printed applications.

Hand-weaving is a beloved craft in history, holding promise for many opportunities in making from flat sheet fabrics to smart textiles. To afford new weaving experiences, we explore how 3D printed custom weaving tools interplay with different materiality, augmenting the design space of weaving. We propose novel weaving techniques enabled by 3D printed custom tools: (1) water-soluble draft to synchronize design intention and practice, (2) flexible warps to guide complex patterns and to shape resulting object, and (3) rigid global geometry for woven artifacts in 3D. EscapeLoom as a computational design tool enables users to employ various parameters in their computational design, and showcases many creative possibilities that move away from the traditional definition of a loom to dive into what more it can be.