faBrickation

Abstract

We present a new approach to rapid prototyping of functional objects, such as the body of a head-mounted display. The key idea is to save 3D printing time by automatically substituting sub-volumes with standard building blocks-in our case Lego bricks. When making the body for a head-mounted display, for example, getting the optical path right is paramount. Users thus mark the lens mounts as "high-resolution" to indicate that these should later be 3D printed. faBrickator then 3D prints these parts. It also generates instructions that show users how to create everything else from Lego bricks. If users iterate on the design later, faBrickator offers even greater benefit as it allows reprinting only the elements that changed. We validated our system at the example of three 3D models of functional objects. On average, our system fabricates objects 2.44 times faster than traditional 3D printing while requiring only 14 minutes of manual assembly. Figure 1: Let's fabricate this head-mounted display body quickly: (a) The exact shape of the lens mounts matters; the user thus (b) marks them as "high-resolution" in faBrickator and 3D prints them. (c) faBrickator shows the user how to create everything else from Lego bricks and how to insert the 3D printed part. Done in 67 minutes instead of the 14:30h for 3D printing.

The Future of Making: Where Industrial and Personal Fabrication Meet

“…First, lowering costs of previously unaffordable manufacturing hardware have been accompanied by a rise of the so-called DIY maker movement -hardware enthusiasts committed to creating their own products, tools and machines (rather than purchasing them) (e.g., [1,5,6,17]). Much of the scholarly discourse on makers argues that this will lead to a democratization of manufacturing and personal fabrication (e.g., [4,6,10,11,12,13,14]). These Do-It-Yourself (DIY) and maker cultures (e.g., [9,18]) are currently much debated in the broader HCI and CSCW communities, as evident through CHI 2014 hosting a panel on "Making Cultures: Empowerment, Participation, and Democracy or Not?"…”