Leah Buechley

As design practitioners begin to consider methods for sustainably disposing of what is made, we explore potential directions for designing with the multispecies- driven degradation of 3D printed biomaterial objects. We present three past encounters with multispecies agents— plants, insects, fungi—that degraded biomaterial samples in our lab. Based on these encounters, we speculate on near-future engagements that such organisms might have with our printed biomaterial objects, where an object is transformed through degradation over time. In these scenarios, we pose multispecies agents as co-designers and co-fabricators of objects, exemplifying how we might reconfigure entangled relationships between human and more-than-human agents in the making-with process and how we might leverage our situated position as human makers to enable planetary flourishing.

In this paper we present Travel Reduction Algorithm (TRAvel) Slicer, which minimizes travel movements in 3D printing. Conventional slicing software generates toolpaths with many travel movements–movements without material extrusion. Some 3D printers are incapable of starting and stopping extrusion and it is difficult to impossible to control the extrusion of many materials. This makes toolpaths with travel movements unsuitable for a wide range of printers and materials. We developed the open-source TRAvel Slicer to enable the printing of complex 3D models on a wider range of printers and in a wider range of materials than is currently possible. TRAvel Slicer minimizes two different kinds of travel movements–what we term Inner- and Outer-Model travel. We minimize Inner-Model travel (travel within the 3D model) by generating space-filling Fermat spirals for each contiguous planar region of the model. We minimize Outer-Model travel (travels outside of the 3D model) by ordering the printing of different branches of the model, thus limiting transitions between branches. We present our algorithm and software and then demonstrate how: 1) TRAvel Slicer makes it possible to generate high-quality prints from a metal-clay material, CeraMetal, that is functionally unprintable using an off-the-shelf slicer. 2) TRAvel Slicer dramatically increases the printing efficiency of traditional plastic 3D printing compared to an off-the-shelf slicer.

This paper analyzes a collection of conductive paints and tapes. We describe and compare their electrical conductivity, durability, appearance, and cost. We investigate different means of connecting these materials to each other and other electronic components-including connection via solder, conductive epoxy, conductive adhesives, and metal mechanical fasteners. We explore different means of insulating and protecting materials and provide the results of a range of durability tests. The results are discussed in the context of the development of interactive murals-large outdoor interactive surfaces that are intended to function for years. We identify two conductive paints, CuPro-Cote and Silver/Copper Super Shield, and two conductive tapes, Copper and Tin that are highly conductive, stable across most of our testing conditions and, we believe, suitable for interactive murals.

Biodesign has grown significantly in the last decade, intersecting with other fields from fashion to material science to healthcare. Recently, biodesign has entangled with Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), a multidisciplinary field of research that focuses on the design and development of computational technologies that people interact with. Bridging the gap between digital and biological, new computational technologies have been developed to integrate with biomaterials (i.e., materials grown from biological matter). Such works range from biomaterials that are embedded with electronics like microcontrollers and/or transformed into electronic components themselves like biomaterial touch sensors for sustainable ubiquitous computing, to biomaterials that are designed specifically for digital fabrication methods like 3D printing to reduce non-renewable waste streams, to biomaterials that are alive to create naturally dynamic and reactive living interfaces that encourage respectful and caring interactions with technology and the natural world. As these three research areas grow within HCI, HCI practitioners have begun drawing knowledge and inspiration from ongoing efforts in biodesign, especially Do-It-Yourself methods for biomaterial development. To accommodate such work, the traditional HCI research lab has expanded to include biological wet lab spaces, microscopes, cooking equipment, and incubators. In combining these two fields, we have seen massive growth in the creation of new bio-digital technologies that not only push current understandings of computational interaction, but also promote more sustainable technological futures.