Tuesday 12pm, 10 September 2019

Turn-by-Wire: Digitally Mediated Physical Fabrication

Rundong Tian

PhD Candidate - UC Berkeley


Advances in digital fabrication have simultaneously created new capabilities while reinforcing outdated workflows that constrain how, and by whom, these fabrication tools are used. In this work, we investigate how a new class of hybrid-controlled machines can collaborate with novice and expert users alike to yield a more lucid making experience. We demonstrate these ideas through our system, Turn-by-Wire. By combining the capabilities of a traditional lathe with haptic input controllers that modulate both position and force, we detail a series of novel interaction metaphors that invite a more fluid making process spanning digital, model-centric, computer control, and embodied, adaptive, human control. We evaluate our system through a preliminary user study and discuss how these concepts generalize to other fabrication tools.


Rundong Tian is a sixth year PhD student at UC Berkeley advised by Eric Paulos. His research probes new workflows for digital fabrication through the process of building and evaluating interactive fabrication tools.