Material transformation designing shape changing interfaces enabled by programmable material anisotropy

Abstract

This thesis takes a material perspective on designing transformable interfaces. The structure of material and mechanical properties such as stiffness, can determine not only its static performances, but also, with the help of external forces, support dynamic shape change. By encoding structural or stiffness distribution in the actuated materials, we can partially offload the shape-changing control from actuators (digital) to the material itself (analogue), in order to achieve expressive transformations that current 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.