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Shape Changing Surfaces and Structures: Design Tools and Methods for Electroactive Polymers

Published: 02 May 2019 Publication History

Abstract

Electroactive polymers (EAP) are a promising material for shape changing interfaces, soft robotics and other novel design explorations. However, the uptake of EAP prototyping in design, art and architecture has been slow due to limited commercial availability, challenging high voltage electronics and lack of simple fabrication techniques. This paper introduces DIY tools for building and activating EAP prototypes, together with design methods for making novel shape-changing surfaces and structures, outside of material science labs. We present iterations of our methods and tools, their use and evaluation in participatory workshops and public installations and how they affect the design outcomes. We discuss unique aesthetic and interactive experiences enabled by the organic and subtle movement of semi-transparent EAP membranes. Finally, we summarise the potential of design tools and methods to facilitate increased exploration of interactive EAP prototypes and outline future steps.

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References

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cover image ACM Conferences
CHI '19: Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
May 2019
9077 pages
ISBN:9781450359702
DOI:10.1145/3290605
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 02 May 2019

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Author Tags

  1. active materials
  2. electroactive polymers
  3. embodied interaction
  4. programmable materials
  5. shape-changing interfaces
  6. smart material interfaces

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CHI '19 Paper Acceptance Rate 703 of 2,958 submissions, 24%;
Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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  • (2024)Chitosan Biofilm Actuators: Humidity Responsive Materials for Sustainable Interaction DesignProceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3623509.3635262(1-7)Online publication date: 11-Feb-2024
  • (2024)ExCell: High Expansion Ratio Moisture-Responsive Wooden Actuators for DIY Shape-Changing and Deployable StructuresProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642565(1-14)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
  • (2023)Flat Panel Haptics: Embedded Electroosmotic Pumps for Scalable Shape DisplaysProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581547(1-16)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
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  • (2021)Electriflow: Soft Electrohydraulic Building Blocks for Prototyping Shape-changing InterfacesProceedings of the 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3461778.3462093(1280-1290)Online publication date: 28-Jun-2021
  • (2021)Soft Electrohydraulic Actuators for Origami Inspired Shape-Changing InterfacesExtended Abstracts of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3411763.3451590(1-6)Online publication date: 8-May-2021
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