Cardboard Machine Kit: Modules for the Rapid Prototyping of Rapid Prototyping Machines
© 2017 ACM. Digital fabrication machines (such as laser cutters or 3D printers) can be instructed to produce any part geometry within their application space. However, machines' application spaces are not easily modified or extended. How can we enable the production of application-specific comp...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/137955 |
| _version_ | 1826202952006631424 |
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| author | Peek, Nadya Coleman, James Moyer, Ilan Gershenfeld, Neil |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Bits and Atoms |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Bits and Atoms Peek, Nadya Coleman, James Moyer, Ilan Gershenfeld, Neil |
| author_sort | Peek, Nadya |
| collection | MIT |
| description | © 2017 ACM. Digital fabrication machines (such as laser cutters or 3D printers) can be instructed to produce any part geometry within their application space. However, machines' application spaces are not easily modified or extended. How can we enable the production of application-specific computer-controlled machines by machine building novices? How can we facilitate rapid prototyping of rapid prototyping tools? We propose a novel set of modules, the Cardboard Machine Kit, for the construction of digital fabrication machines. These open-source modules are implemented using cardboard frames, stepper motors, and networked electronics controlled through a Python library. We evaluated the kit both through machine building workshops and by studying the usage of the kit in the wild. In the wild we observed more than 500 novice machine builders who built 125 different machines for 15 different application types. We argue that this breadth demonstrates the efficacy of this modular approach. Finally we discuss the limitations of the Cardboard Machine Kit and discuss how it could inform future machine building infrastructure. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:28:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/137955 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:28:22Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1379552022-10-01T09:15:42Z Cardboard Machine Kit: Modules for the Rapid Prototyping of Rapid Prototyping Machines Peek, Nadya Coleman, James Moyer, Ilan Gershenfeld, Neil Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Bits and Atoms © 2017 ACM. Digital fabrication machines (such as laser cutters or 3D printers) can be instructed to produce any part geometry within their application space. However, machines' application spaces are not easily modified or extended. How can we enable the production of application-specific computer-controlled machines by machine building novices? How can we facilitate rapid prototyping of rapid prototyping tools? We propose a novel set of modules, the Cardboard Machine Kit, for the construction of digital fabrication machines. These open-source modules are implemented using cardboard frames, stepper motors, and networked electronics controlled through a Python library. We evaluated the kit both through machine building workshops and by studying the usage of the kit in the wild. In the wild we observed more than 500 novice machine builders who built 125 different machines for 15 different application types. We argue that this breadth demonstrates the efficacy of this modular approach. Finally we discuss the limitations of the Cardboard Machine Kit and discuss how it could inform future machine building infrastructure. 2021-11-09T16:19:53Z 2021-11-09T16:19:53Z 2017-05 2019-07-22T14:24:44Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/ConferencePaper https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/137955 Peek, Nadya, Coleman, James, Moyer, Ilan and Gershenfeld, Neil. 2017. "Cardboard Machine Kit: Modules for the Rapid Prototyping of Rapid Prototyping Machines." en 10.1145/3025453.3025491 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) ACM |
| spellingShingle | Peek, Nadya Coleman, James Moyer, Ilan Gershenfeld, Neil Cardboard Machine Kit: Modules for the Rapid Prototyping of Rapid Prototyping Machines |
| title | Cardboard Machine Kit: Modules for the Rapid Prototyping of Rapid Prototyping Machines |
| title_full | Cardboard Machine Kit: Modules for the Rapid Prototyping of Rapid Prototyping Machines |
| title_fullStr | Cardboard Machine Kit: Modules for the Rapid Prototyping of Rapid Prototyping Machines |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cardboard Machine Kit: Modules for the Rapid Prototyping of Rapid Prototyping Machines |
| title_short | Cardboard Machine Kit: Modules for the Rapid Prototyping of Rapid Prototyping Machines |
| title_sort | cardboard machine kit modules for the rapid prototyping of rapid prototyping machines |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/137955 |
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