MiuraKit: A Modular Hands-On Construction Kit For Pneumatic Shape-Changing And Robotic Interfaces

Video

Building shape-changing, robotic or deployable interfaces is notoriously difficult, often requiring fabrication skills or specialized hardware. We present a construction kit for novice users to enable immediate hands-on exploration of custom shape-changing or robotic structures through pneumatically actuated origami tubes. Our construction kit consists of generic origami actuators that can be combined with our connectors to result in a variety of shapes and motions. Our novel connectors support simple mechanical connections through snap fits and pneumatic configurations through plugs. To assist users in designing and previewing complex deformations, we provide a design tool that generates control code for user-defined designs. We envision that our construction kit will facilitate creativity support tasks (e.g. product design) or education. We demonstrate the capabilities of our construction kit with three application examples and a series of objects created during our co-creation study with novice users.