Steel-Sense: Integrating Machine Elements with Sensors by Additive
Manufacturing
Designing New Materials and Manufacturing Techniques
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Vasilevitsky, Tatyana
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Zoran, Amit
Proceedings of the ACM CHI'16 Conference on Human Factors in Computing
Systems
2016-05-07
v.1
p.5731-5742
© Copyright 2016 ACM
Summary: Many interactive devices use both machine elements and sensors,
simultaneously but redundantly enabling and measuring the same physical
function. We present Steel-Sense, an approach to joining these two families of
elements to create a new type of HCI design primitive. We leverage recent
developments in 3D printing to embed sensing in metal structures that are
otherwise difficult to equip with sensors, and present four design principles,
implementing (1) an electronic switch integrated within a ball bearing; (2) a
voltage divider within a gear; (3) a variable capacitor embedded in a hinge;
and (4) a pressure sensor within a screw. Each design demonstrates a different
sensing principle, and signals its performance through (1) movement; (2)
position; (3) angle (4) or stress. We mirror our elements physical performance
in a virtual environment, evaluate our designs electronically and structurally,
and discuss future work and implications for HCI research.