Material Transformation

93 Pages·2014·13.25 MB·English

Material Transformation
Designing Shape Changing Interfaces Enabled by
Programmable Material Anisotropy
Jifei Ou
Dipl. Design, Ofenbach University of Art and Design (2012)
Submitted to the Program in Media Arts and Sciences,
School of Architecture and Planning,
in partial fulfllment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Science in Media Arts and Sciences
at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology
June 2014
© 2014 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All Rights Reserved
Author
Jifei Ou
Program in Media Arts and Sciences
May 24, 2014
Certifed by
Hiroshi Ishii
Jerome B. Wiesner Professor of Media Arts and Sciences
MIT Media Lab
Accepted by
Pattie Maes
Associate Academic Head,
Program in Media Art and Science
Material Transformation
Designing Shape Changing Interfaces Enabled by
Programmable Material Anisotropy
Jifei Ou
Submitted to the Program in Media Arts and Sciences,
School of Architecture and Planning, on May 30th, 2014
in partial fulfllment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Science in Media Arts and Sciences
at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology
ABSTRACT
This thesis takes a material perspective on designing trans-
formable interfaces. The structure of material and mechan-
ical properties such as stifness, can determine not only
its static performances, but also, with the help of exter-
nal forces, support dynamic shape change. By encoding
structural or stifness distribution in the actuated mate-
rials, we can partially ofoad the shape-changing control
from actuators (digital) to the material itself (analogue),
in order to achieve expressive transformations that cur-
rent modularized actuation system cannot easily provide.
The implementation of this thesis will be three series of
material primitives and three application prototypes that
demonstrate the real world potential of this research.
Thesis Supervisor
Hiroshi Ishii
Jerome B. Wiesner Professor of Media Arts and Sciences
MIT Media Lab
3
Material Transformation
Designing Shape Changing Interfaces Enabled by
Programmable Material Anisotropy
Jifei Ou
The following people served as readers for this thesis:
Thesis Advisor
Hiroshi Ishii
Jerome B. Wiesner Professor of Media Arts and Sciences
MIT Media Lab
Thesis Reader
Neri Oxman
Assistant Professor of Media Arts and Sciences
MIT Media Lab
Thesis Reader
Sangbae Kim
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering
4
CONTENTS
ABSTRACT 03
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 11
INITIAL REMARKS
Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Motivation 17
1.2 Thesis Aims 19
1.3 Thesis Contribution 21
1.4 Thesis Outline 21
Chapter 2. MACHINE TO MATERIAL TRANSFORMATION
2.1 Mythology of Shapeshifting 24
2.2 Transformable Machine 24
2.3 Programmable Matter & Claytronics 28
2.3 Shape Changing Interfaces 29
2.5 Smart Materials 32
Chapter 3. MATERIAL, FORCES AND INFORMATION
3.1 Transformation in Nature 35
3.2 Material Computation 38
3.3 Model for Material Transformation 40
Chapter 4. PNEUMATIC ACTUATION PLATFORM
4.1 Inspiring Works
4.1.1 Soft Robotics 44
4.1.2 Tunable Stifness with Jamming 45
4.2 Principle of Layer-jamming 46
4.3 Control Systems
4.3.1 Infation for Deformation 47
4.3.2 Vacuum for Tunable Stifness 48
Chapter 5. PROPOSED DESIGN SPACE
5.1 Parameter
5.1.1 Deforming Forces 52
5.1.2 Programmable Material Anisotropy 54
5.2 Design Space 56
5.3 Transformation Primitives
5.3.1 Type A
Primitive A 57
Primitive B 58
Fabrication 60
5.3.2 Type B
Primitive C 61
Primitive D 63
Fabrication 66
5.3.1 Type C
Primitive E 67
Chapter 6. APPLICATIONS AS EVALUATION
6.1 Design Principles 70
6.2 HelighX
Design 70
Sensing 71
Fabrication 72
6.3 PLYABLES
Design 72
Extention of Application 75
Sensing 73
Fabrication 75
6.4 JamBot
Design 76
Sensing and Motion Control 76
Fabrication 77
Chapter 7. A STEP FORWARD...
7.1 Morphing Vehicle 79
7.2 Beyond Transformation
7.2.1 Ilumination 81
7.2.2 Sensing 82
7.2.3 Construction 82
7.2.4 Nano-Actuator Distribution 83
Chapter 8. CONCLUSION 85
APPENDIX 87
BIBLIOGRAPHY 91