Rapid Fabrication of Haptic and Electric Input Interfaces using 4D Printed Origami

Abstract

Origami is widely used in tangible input interfaces for diverse shapes and haptic feedback. However, the design and fabrication process of origami is labor-intensive, and building circuits on it is often unstable as they can easily be broken during iterative folding processes. We propose a fabrication method that helps users quickly design and fabricate haptic origami interfaces with electric sensing. By extending the previous 4D printing method [16], we developed a design software that can generate both a pattern of self-foldable shape and a pattern of circuitry. In the software, two kirigami hinges and five shape modules are available for users. Kirigami hinges protect the circuits from damage and achieve deformation sensing during the iterative folding process. Five shape modules have different haptic capabilities for different use cases.We summarized the fabrication process and designed three applications to validate our proposed method.