Paper: Ilan Moyer, Leo McElroy, Jake Read, Jennifer Jacobs, Maria Yang. Off the Shelf Printing with Fab Unit: a Physically Situated Digital Fabrication Appliance. In Preparation.
Abstract: Digital fabrication offers powerful ways of making but enforces computer-based workflows that can pull practitioners out of physically situated creative processes. We propose digital fabrication tools in the form of appliances: specialized machines that offer immediate, self-contained operation, and are situated within specific applications and their workspaces. To explore this idea, we developed Fab Unit, a digital fabrication appliance (DFA) that acts as a "digital parts bin," using on-demand production to expand the range of off-the-shelf components available on-hand for designers' use while prototyping. We developed a new space-efficient 3D printer form-factor that expands where Fab Unit can situate in a workshop, and a natural language interface enabling casual selection and customization of components entirely at-tool using spoken description. We tested our ideas in a two-day workshop where we asked experienced designers to create automated drawing machines. We found that our interface enabled part search, parametric configuration, and print initiation with only 66 seconds of interaction on average, and opened opportunities for unexpected search approaches such as finding a part based on a description of its geometry (e.g. "I'm looking for a round part with a hole in the middle"). We also observed that off-the-shelf printing was especially compelling when specific part configurations simply aren't available commercially. We aim to introduce DFAs that enhance rather than disrupt creative processes.