PneuSeries: 3D Shape Forming with Modularized Serial-Connected Inflatables
Journal
UIST 2021 - Proceedings of the 34th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology
Pages
431-440
Date Issued
2021
Author(s)
Abstract
We present PneuSeries, a series of modularized inflatables where their inflation and deflation are propagated in-between stage by stage to form various shapes. The key component of PneuSeries is the bidirectional check valve that passively regulates the air flowing in/out from/to adjacent inflatables, allowing each of the inflatables to be inflated/deflated one by one through serial propagation. The form of the inflatable series thus is programmed by the sequential operations of a pump that push/pull the air in/out. In this paper, we explored the design of PneuSeries and implemented working prototypes as a proof of concept. In particular, we built PneuSeries with (1) modularized cubical, cuboidal, tetrahedral, prismatic, and custom inflatables to examine their shape forming, (2) fast assembly connectors to allow quick reconfiguration of the series, and (3) folding mechanism to reduce irregularity of the shrunken inflatables. We also evaluated the inflating and deflating time and the flow rate of the valve for simulating the inflating and deflating process and display the steps and time required to transform in our software. Finally, we demonstrate example objects that show the capability of PneuSeries and its potential applications. ? 2021 ACM.
Event(s)
34th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, UIST 2021
Subjects
multi-inflatable systems
pneumatic devices
Shape-changing interface
3-D shape
Check valves
Modularized
Multi-inflatable system
Pneumatic devices
Proof of concept
Push pull
Sequential operations
Shape forming
SDGs
Type
conference paper