Exploring fabrication principles for making freeform breadBoards

Abstract

CurveBoards are 3D breadboards integrated into the surface of physical prototypes. CurveBoards offer both the flexibility of breadboards, i.e., the ability to add or remove components, while also integrating well with the shape of the prototype. Thus, designers can use CurveBoards to test function directly in context of the actual physical form. We demonstrate our method for fabricating the CurveBoard in which designers only have to 3D print the housing and then fill the wire channels with conductive silicone. We also discuss limitations to this approach and alternative fabrication methods. We display a range of different application scenarios and report on a user study with six participants that showed that prototypes created as CurveBoards looked and felt closer to the final design.