Foldio: Digital Fabrication of Interactive and Shape-Changing Objects With Foldable Printed Electron

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Saarland University, Human-Computer Interaction Group, Department Of Computer Science

Project Website: http://hci.cs.uni-saarland.de/research/foldio/


Foldios are foldable interactive objects with embedded input sensing and output capabilities. Foldios combine the advantages of folding for thin, lightweight and shape-changing objects with the strengths of thin-film printed electronics for embedded sensing and output. To enable designers and end-users to create highly custom interactive foldable objects, we contribute a new design and fabrication approach. It makes it possible to design the foldable object in a standard 3D environment and to easily add interactive high-level controls, eliminating the need to manually design a fold pattern and low-level circuits for printed electronics. Second, we contribute a set of printable user interface controls for touch input and display output on folded objects. Moreover, we contribute controls for sensing and actuation of shape-changeable objects. We demonstrate the versatility of the approach with a variety of interactive objects that have been fabricated with this framework.




This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.


This project has received funding from the Government of the Republic of Cyprus through the Directorate General for the European Programmes, Coordination and Development.