The Design Space of 3D Printable Interactivity

Abstract

The capabilities of 3D printers are rapidly progressing towards fabrication of fully interactive products. For designers to reason about the best way to achieve their interaction design goals, it is helpful to not only know what exists in the literature, but to also understand the design space of options. Such an understanding can help in comparison, analysis, selection of suitable technology, and also in the generation of new ideas. In this article, we survey the state of the art in 3D printing fully functional sensors and actuators to support explicit interaction techniques. We classify and organize the surveyed works around the following parameters: mechanism, designed affordances, interaction primitives, and output modality. The design space is presented in the form of a multidimensional matrix known as a Zwicky box. Using the tables, we can make observations about the existing literature and also identify gaps in this design space. Many such gaps can potentially lead to exciting new research or engineering opportunities.