This paper looks at texture—middle-level components—as an important aspect of drawing. We present a hardware tool, penPal, that is designed to support dynamic mark-making and direct creative actions at this level. By incorporating a tendon-driven continuum robot, penPal’s tip can move independently, giving the user a new axis of creative control. Combined with the user’s own manipulations, penPal allows for emergent combinations of computer and manual control over the rapid generation of diverse textures. Through a 10-participant study and a professional artist commission, we examine how users negotiate control by integrating multiple coordinate systems (their body, the paper, and penPal’s tip) as they construct compositions. We suggest some benefits of supporting users at the texture level, such as the ability to shift the primary focus of their activity, the ability to selectively defamiliarize the creative process for generative potential, and for pleasure.

We propose augmenting initially passive structures built from simple repeated cells, with novel active units to enable dynamic, shape-changing, and robotic applications. Inspired by metamaterials that can employ mechanisms, we build a framework that allows users to configure cells of this passive structure to allow it to perform complex tasks. A key benefit is that our structures can be repeatedly (re)configured by users inserting our configuration units to turn the passive material into, e.g., locomotion robots, integrated motion platforms, or interactive interfaces, as we demonstrate in this paper.

While there has been sustained interest in shape-changing materials and deployable structures, many existing systems require engineering materials, precision fabrication, and computationally modeled kinematics in order to work. Additionally, many rely on external power sources in order to deploy. In light of these factors, we perceive a need for deployable materials that are easy to design, prototype, and deploy, and that can transform themselves in response to environmental stimuli, making them appropriate for ecological applications. In this paper, we present ExCell, a DIY-able system of water-responsive wooden linear actuators for self-actuating deployable structures. We show that ExCell can be used to develop a wide range of geometries, we present a prototyping method that can create accurate models of ExCell structures, and we suggest four possible applications for this system.

Virtual and augmented reality headsets are making significant progress in audio-visual immersion and consumer adoption. However, their haptic immersion remains low, due in part to the limitations of vibrotactile actuators which dominate the AR/VR market. In this work, we present a new approach to create high-resolution shape-changing fingerpad arrays with 20 haptic pixels/cm2. Unlike prior pneumatic approaches, our actuators are low-profile (5mm thick), low-power (approximately 10mW/pixel), and entirely self-contained, with no tubing or wires running to external infrastructure. We show how multiple actuator arrays can be built into a five-finger, 160-actuator haptic glove that is untethered, lightweight (207g, including all drive electronics and battery), and has the potential to reach consumer price points at volume production. We describe the results from a technical performance evaluation and a suite of eight user studies, quantifying the diverse capabilities of our system. This includes recognition of object properties such as complex contact geometry, texture, and compliance, as well as expressive spatiotemporal effects.