The increasing popularity of microcontroller platforms like Arduino enables diverse end-user developers to participate in circuit prototyping. Traditionally, follow-along tutorials serve as an essential learning method for makers, and in fact, several prior toolkits leveraged this format as a way to engage new makers. However, literature and our formative study (N=12) show that makers have unique preferences regarding the construction of their circuits and idiosyncratic ways to assess and debug problems, which contrasts with the step-by-step instructional nature of tutorials and those systems leveraging this method. To address this mismatch, we present a prototyping platform that supports personalized circuit construction and debugging. Our system utilizes an augmented breadboard, which is circuit-aware and supports on-the-fly hardware reconfiguration via contextualized guidance and in-situ circuit validation through interactive tests. Through a usability study (N=12), we demonstrate how makers leverage circuit-aware guidance and debugging to support individual building patterns.
Most shelving relies on rectangular compartments that ignore the contours of the objects they hold. We present Uniquely Shaped Spaces, an object-driven algorithmic tool for custom shelving generation. The workflow arranges users' object silhouettes with simulated annealing, grows walls via cellular automata to carve fitted voids, and outputs fabrication files with joinery for laser cutting. We designed the system so that objects, our algorithm, and users share authorship, and studied how this configuration played out with five participants as they designed shelves in guided workshops and then lived with the fabricated pieces. Our findings show how participants navigated object geometry, algorithmic search, and fabrication limits by curating, tweaking, and appropriating algorithmic proposals, and how the resulting shelves supported reflection and storytelling. These results point toward object-driven fabrication systems that foreground objects as generative constraints and explicitly support negotiation within constraint-driven workflows.
Creating interactive papercrafts often involves the processes of craft making (e.g., folding, cutting, gluing, etc.) and fabricating the embedded functional circuitry. These two processes are usually separated in the current practice, making the workflow laborious and affecting the in-paper circuit stability. To address the issue of the separated crafting and circuiting processes, we present LiqMetCraft, a toolkit for creating electronics-embedded papercrafts through an integrated process. The toolkit allows users to construct the craft structure by folding and cutting, and forms the circuit traces simultaneously. This is achieved with liquid-metal-dyed paper-like fabric which partially becomes conductive due to the cutting/folding-induced pressure while the unpressed parts of the paper remain insulated. The toolkit consists of software interfaces for papercraft design and hardware components, mainly the liquid-metal-dyed paper-like fabrics and other off-the-shelf components, for physical prototyping. The user studies shows that the participants quickly learned the toolkit and found the integrated process of circuit assembly and shape formation to be engaging and inspiring.
When novices fabricate, they start by choosing a workflow (e.g., laser cutting, 3D printing, etc.) and corresponding software from a narrow set they know. As they advance their design, another workflow might better suit their intent, but their models remain committed to the original workflow. This prohibits exploration, which fosters informed decision-making. In this paper, we investigate how CAD interfaces can guide exploration and comparison of workflows. Specifically, comparison can advance users' reasoning about design decisions. We developed a prototype interface, CAMeleon, which lets users compare fabrication workflows. Users load 3D models and preview outcomes from different workflows. We hypothesize that presenting alternative outcomes supports exploration and scaffolds informed decision-making. Upon workflow confirmation, CAMeleon allows users export both machine and human instructions for the chosen fabrication workflow. We interviewed seven fabrication educators to understand how such tools can be integrated into teaching and to demonstrate how we adjust our tool based on their insights. In user evaluation (N = 12), guided comparison helped participants consider a broader range of workflows, reflect on trade-offs, and experiment with new ways of planning.
Ceramics practice is an embodied activity where creators use manual tools in unique ways to shape physical material. Clay 3D printing uses the same material as manual ceramics craft, enabling new opportunities for form and texture by precisely controlling the 3D printing toolpath. However, current clay 3D printing design workflows require developing forms through digital software rather than tool-based making. We present Clay ARTools, an augmented reality (AR) system for designing clay 3D printed vessels. We developed Clay ARTools in collaboration with a professional ceramicist to create AR toolpath editing operations that reference manual use of ceramic tools. Through the design and fabrication of 3D-printed clay artifacts, we demonstrate how AR ceramic tools enable precise and controllable modifications of the toolpath, from the overall form down to individual toolpath points. We demonstrate how extending physical tool metaphors with digital representations and numerical precision enables craft-like interaction with CAM-based design techniques.
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.
Recent advances in material-centric personal fabrication have enabled the use of custom inks and paints with functional properties to create free-form displays. However, working with these materials, such as through airbrushing, remains a skill-intensive process that limits non-specialist access, adoption, and further development. To address these challenges, we developed Dispray, an AR-augmented airbrush tool for fabricating electroluminescent displays. The tool was shaped by insights from a study with artists and engineers and refined through iterative prototyping. We evaluated Dispray by re-engaging with the original artists and engineers and conducting a follow-up study with novice users, demonstrating its effectiveness in supporting both skill acquisition and functional fabrication. This work contributes a novel approach to connecting emerging material fabrication with accessible, user-centered tools, advancing the democratisation of interactive device creation.