'Wise chisels': Art, craftsmanship, and power tools (w/ Video)
Nov 22, 2013 | Phys.org | David L. Chandler
It's often easy to tell
at a glance the difference between a mass-produced object and one that
has been handcrafted: The handmade item is likely to have distinctive
imperfections and clear signs of an individual's technique and style.
Now, some
researchers at MIT are finding ways to blur those distinctions, making
it possible, for example, to sculpt items with those distinctive signs
of handicraft, while controlling the outcome so that the object doesn't
stray too far from the desired form. They described their work at the
recent Association for Computing Machinery Symposium on User Interface
Software and Technology.
Amit Zoran, a postdoc at the MIT Media Lab who did much of this work
as part of his doctoral thesis research, is the lead author of the
reports. He says that, in an age of increasing standardization and
mass-production, he has been "searching for this human quality, for ways
to translate the long heritage of craft and creativity" into the
digital age.
For example, in work with graduate student Roy Shilkrot, Zoran has
designed a handheld carving tool that can be programmed with a desired
three-dimensional shape. When the user begins to carve a block of
material, anytime his motions would extend into the region of the
desired final form, the device provides physical feedback that slows the
motion.
If the carving alters the shape so much that it would compromise the
structural integrity of the object, the computerized system can adjust
the shape accordingly, in real time. For example, if in sculpting a
giraffe the user carved too far into the neck, the computer can adjust
the shape, introducing a bend in the neck that maintains its strength.
Watch video
The basic principles
Zoran and his colleagues are pursuing could also extend into physical
safety. For example, by recognizing when they might be about to inflict
damage, these "smart tools" could sense that a sharp blade is getting
too close to a user's fingers, for example, and automatically deflect
its path to avoid injury.
"We're developing tools that don't have a direct physical, craft
heritage, but are entirely new," Zoran says of a project conducted with
graduate student Pragun Goyal. "Creativity is all about error. … We're
looking for creativity, for something that surprises us."
To demonstrate the inherent flexibility and creativity of these
computer-assisted tools, Zoran had several different people make
carvings based on the same programmed shape—in this case, a cat. As
expected, each piece had a unique appearance, with distinctive textures,
forms, and styles.
Goyal and his
advisor, Joseph Paradiso, an associate professor of media arts and
sciences, have also developed a handheld inkjet printer head. The device
can be programmed to print a specific image, but instead of moving
across a fixed track as in a conventional printer, it can be guided by
hand across any surface. This would allow, for example, a highly
detailed image to be printed onto a complex 3-D shape—something no
conventional printer can do.
This combination of digital capabilities and human control could
permit a new kind of tool for measurement or testing, explains Goyal.
For example, a handheld probe could be used to test an electronic
circuit board—but unlike ordinary probes, it could be preprogrammed with
details of the circuit. So instead of having to manually set
parameters, such as the expected voltage range at a given point, the
device would know what range to set, and do so instantly. It would also
record the reading and automatically associate each result with the
exact location where it was taken.
Zoran, Goyal, and Shilkrot carried out this research with Paradiso
and Pattie Maes as part of the Media Lab's groups on Responsive
Environment and Fluid Interfaces.
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