CrossFAB: Bridging the Gap between
Personal Fabrication Research in HCI,
Computer Graphics, Robotics, Art,
Architecture, and Material Science.
Stefanie Mueller

Yoichi Ochiai

Hasso Plattner Institute

University of Tsukuba

Potsdam, Germany

Tsukuba, Japan

stefanie.mueller@hpi.de

wizard@slis.tsukuba.ac.jp

Laura Devendorf

Madeline Gannon

University of California, Berkeley

Carnegie Mellon University

Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
ldevedorf@ischool.berkeley.edu

Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA
mgannon@andrew.cmu.edu

Stelian Coros

Patrick BaudischRobotics InstituteHasso Plattner Institute

Carnegie Mellon University

Potsdam, Germany

scoros@cmu.edu

patrick.baudisch@hpi.de

Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal orAbstract
Since 2012, personal fabrication has emerged as a new
topic in the HCI community with an increasing numberof publications every year. While within HCI, fabrication
researchers have already built a strong community;
almost no collaboration with other related disciplines,
such as computer graphics, robotics, art, architecture,and material science, exists. We believe that especiallyin the context of HCI, collaboration with other fields canprovide valuable input and create new perspectives on
HCI challenges. This one-day workshop aims at bridging the gap between related disciplines in the area of
personal fabrication by bringing together researchers
from different fields. The focus of this workshop is toform connections across disciplines that can give rise toongoing collaborations and to inspire HCI researchers
to reach out into other topic areas for future research.

classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributedfor profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the fullAuthor Keywords

citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be

personal fabrication; interdisciplinary research.

honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.
Copyright is held by the owner/author(s).

ACM Classification Keywords

CHI'16 Extended Abstracts, May 07-12, 2016, San Jose, CA, USA

H.5.2

ACM 978-1-4503-4082-3/16/05.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2851581.2856461

Background
Personal fabrication devices, such as 3D printers, allow
users to create customized objects. While the topic ofmanufacturing has a long history in industry, the decreasing costs of 3D printers now also allow homeusers to fabricate their own objects, opening up a new
mass market. This comes with new research challenges, especially from a Human Computer Interaction
perspective, as it is unclear how traditional industrial
technologies are approached and understood by new
audiences with a diverse range of goals and expertise.
Since 2012, human computer interaction researchers
tackle this challenge by developing new prototyping
environments that abstract domain knowledge, thereby
allowing users to build increasingly complex objects(e.g. Sauron [19]); moving the creation process fromthe digital environment to the physical environment,
thereby allowing for hands-on editing (Interactive Fabrication [23], Smart Handheld Tools [25], Tactum [7]);speeding up fabrication so that faster design iteration
becomes possible (e.g. low-fidelity Fabrication [15]);
exploring the role fabrication technologies play within
expressive craft and meaning-making activities (e.g.
Being the Machine [6]); and exploring novel fabrication
processes, such as printing soft materials (layeredfabric printer [17]), e.g. for wearable interfaces.
In 2013, a first workshop on personal fabrication at CHI
called FAB at CHI [13] helped bring together HCI researchers that started the field. This first workshop
helped framing personal fabrication research in thecontext of HCI. A similar small-scale workshop PerFab[11] was held later that year at Ubicomb’13.

Figure 1: Number of paper publications in HCI and computer graphics conferences since 2011.

These workshops have fulfilled their goals: personalfabrication is now an established sub-discipline within
HCI with more and more researchers joining the fieldevery year (see Figure 1). To foster further growth, it isnow time to broaden the field by reaching out to related disciplines in personal fabrication, such as computer
graphics, robotics, art, architecture, and materials.
Inspired by interdisciplinary workshops outside of CHI,
such as The New Making Renaissance: Programmable
Matter and Things [5] and Computational Aspects ofFabrication [3], we have put together a one-day workshop program to form connections across disciplinesthat can give rise to future collaborations.
Related Disciplines in Personal Fabrication
Personal Fabrication is a hot topic in many different
disciplines. Our workshop will offer insights and perspectives from the following fields:

Computer graphics: A main focus in graphics research has been to support users in predicting physicalbehavior, such as preventing thin parts from breaking(Stress relief [21]) or by providing users with feedbackon dynamic behavior (Pteronyms [22]). Graphics researchers also looked at how to convert animated digital characters into their mechanical counterparts byautomatically generating the driving mechanisms fromgears and linkages [4], and have worked on simulating
different materials using a single material (metamaterials [20]).

the artifacts destroyed by ISIS present 3D printing as aform of “resistance and documentation” [1].

Architecture & Robotics: With a main focus on largescale fabrication, research in architecture has exploredmany novel fabrication tools, processes, and materials.
Within architecture, robots that are repurposed as fabrication tools play a major role. For instance, Minibuilders [14] are moving printing robots that address
the question how to build artifacts that are larger thanthe printing volume (e.g. to print entire houses as suggested in contour crafting [10]). Architecture researchers also recently started to investigate how to interactively construct together with a robot [8]. In addition,architecture is experimenting with novel printing materials, such as cement [24] for large-scale extrusion.

Workshop Goals and Outcomes
By inviting researchers from each discipline, we hope tobuild an interdisciplinary network of researchers. Our
goal is to use the workshop as a platform to learn
about each other’s work—the challenges, tools andtechniques being used. We believe that joining theforces in such interdisciplinary work is a key to moving
the field of personal fabrication forward.

Art: Artists engage in fabrication in several different
ways blurring the distinctions between art, craft, anddesign. Some artists create fabrication systems toaugment their existing practices with new digitally informed capabilities (Hektor [12], SolarSinter [9]).
Within such work, the movements of the machine andcontexts of fabrication take on increasing role for themeaning of the artwork. Artistic explorations also provide cultural and political perspectives on fabrication
practice. For instance, Allahyari’s 3D printed replicas ofMaterial Science: With only a small number of 3D
printable materials being available today, material scientists are working on expanding what can be printed.
For instance, Lewis et al. research on printing conductive material [2] has lead to the first commerciallyavailable conductive 3D printer. In a completely different direction, material scientists in biology are working
on how to print tissue or even entire organs [16].

Organizers
Stefanie Mueller (main contact person) is a PhD
student in HCI working with Prof. Patrick Baudisch at
Hasso Plattner Institute. In her research, she develops
new interfaces for interacting with personal fabricationmachines. For her work, she has received multiple best
paper and honorable mention awards. She is a programcommittee member for CHI 2016 and UIST 2016 andhas participated in all former fabrication workshops.
Laura Devendorf is a PhD Candidate at the UC Berkeley School of Information with a designated emphasis
in new media and an Aritst-in-Residence at Autodesk.
As a practicing artist and HCI researcher, Laura explores the way in which digital fabrication technologies

shape creative practice. Her work has received honorable mention awards at CHI, earned her invitations tospeak at events hosted by the California College of theArts and the American Craft Council, and was featured
on National Public Radio.
Dr. Stelian Coros is an assistant professor in Carnegie
Mellon University's Robotics Institute. Before joining
CMU, Stelian was a research scientist at Disney Research, Zurich. He is interested in developing models ofmotor control, motion planning algorithms, physicsbased simulation tools and computational design methods for mechanical structures with controllable materialproperties.
Yoichi Ochiai is an assistant professor at the University of Tsukuba. His research focus is to establish new
relationships between human and computational resources called as Digital Nature. His papers were published in Transaction on Graphics and LEONARDO. He isalso known as a New Media Artist. His art works wereexhibited in the Ars Electronica Festival, the Ars Electronica Center and the SIGGRAPH Art Gallery.
Madeline Gannon is the head of MADLAB.CC,
a research studio exploring the future of digital making, and is a PhD candidate in computational design at
Carnegie Mellon University. Her research develops gestural user interfaces for designing and fabricating withindustrial robots, CNC routers, laser cutters, and 3D
printers. Her work is transdisciplinary in nature, and ispublished across design, architectural robotics and HCI
communities. In addition, Madeline has taught digital
fabrication courses at Carnegie Mellon University's
School of Architecture.

Patrick Baudisch is a professor in Computer Scienceat Hasso Plattner Institute at Potsdam University andchair of the Human Computer Interaction Lab. His research focuses on natural user interfaces and interactive devices, including miniature mobile devices, touch
input, interactive floors and rooms, and most recently
interactive fabrication.

WebsiteOur website http://crossfab-workshop.com contains themotivation and rational behind the workshop. The website serves as a platform for advertising the call forparticipants before the workshop, for archiving information about each submission, and for collecting documentation and outcomes from the workshop.

Pre-Workshop Plan
We are inviting submissions that focus on crossdisciplinary research in the area of fabrication. Submissions can be of two types: (1) envisioned crossdisciplinary research projects, i.e. project ideas that
require skills or perspectives from several fields. (2)experience reports on cross-disciplinary research projects, i.e. in-progress or finished projects in which theauthors are collaborating across disciplines.
We will post our call for participants on our website
shortly after notification. We will distribute the call forparticipation among our network, which includes researchers in all relevant disciplines. Participants must
submit papers by January 31 and will be notified ofacceptance by February 5. Afterwards, we will send alist of participants to the workshop chairs. In order toallow ample time for discussion of each project andexperience, a maximum of 15 submissions will be accepted. However, we will allow for up to 25 participants

in the workshop in case more than one author of asubmission would like to attend the workshop.
To align the composition of the organizing team withthe goals of the workshop, the main organizers Stefanie
Mueller (HCI) and Patrick Baudisch (HCI) have alreadyreached out to researchers of related disciplines andinvited them to join the workshop organization.
As a result, the organizing team now also has members
from art (Laura Devendorf), graphics and robotics (Stelian Coros), material science and physics (Yoichi Ochiai), and architecture (Madeline Gannon). These organizers will act as ambassadors for their respective fields,
i.e. they will provide an overview of research from theirdiscipline and will help to connect HCI researchers withpotential collaborators in their field.

Workshop Structure
To run an interactive one-day workshop, we will use
the following activities. The time devoted to each activity will depend on the range of submissions received:(1) ambassador panel: The panel consists of shorttalks of each organizer/ambassador highlighting recent
research, challenges, and opportunities from their field.
Afterwards, participants will be invited to ask questions
and discuss their own perspectives with the panelists.
The goal of the panel and accompanying discussionsection is to foster a better understanding of each other’s field and to stimulate cross-disciplinary discussions.
(2) focused brainstorms: Participants will give 3 minutetalks about their cross-disciplinary workshop proposals.
We will have short sessions with four presentations in arow, followed by an interactive brainstorming activity.
For the brainstorming activity, we will prepare four

whiteboards, one for each talk. Participants will gather
at the whiteboard for the talk that most piqued theirinterest. After 15 minutes of small group brainstorming
on future research directions and the challenges discussed in the talk, each group presents their results in
an informal way to the other participants. The benefitof this activity is that each project receives in-depth
feedback, participants further get to know each other insmall groups (groups change for each brainstorm session), and every participant is actively involved.
(3) experience reports: What does a successful crossdisciplinary project look like? Participants who submitted experience reports will be invited to individuallyshare their experiences to the group. A discussion
among all participants will follow and will be facilitatedby the organizers with the goal of drawing out factorsthat lead to sustainable and productive collaborations.

Post-Workshop
After the workshop, with permission from the participants, we will share the contact data of all participants
with each other to stay connected. During the workshop, we will capture the discussions and presentations
and will publish on our webpage for future reference.

Call for Papers
Since 2012, personal fabrication has emerged as a new
topic in the HCI community with an increasing numberof publications every year. While within HCI, fabrication
researchers have already built a strong community;
almost no collaboration with other related disciplines,
such as computer graphics, robotics, art, architecture,and material science, exists. We believe that especiallyin the context of HCI, collaboration with other fields canprovide valuable input and create new perspectives on
HCI challenges.

This one-day workshop aims at bridging the gap between related disciplines in the area of personal fabrication by bringing together researchers from different
fields. The focus of this workshop is to form connections across disciplines that can give rise to ongoingcollaborations and to inspire HCI researchers to reachout into other topic areas for future research
Submissions can be of two types: (1) envisioned crossdisciplinary research projects, i.e. project ideas that
require skills or perspectives from several fields. (2)experience reports on cross-disciplinary research projects, i.e. a report of an in-progress or finished projectin which the authors are collaborating across disciplines.
Workshop-Website: http://crossfab-workshop.com
Please send your submissions (maximum 4 pages, CHI
EA format, pdf) until January 31 to:crossfabworkshop@gmail.com

Dimensional Printing of Conductive Inks. Journal of
Visualized Experiments 58 (e3189): 1-8, 2011.
[3]   Marc Alexa, Bernd Bickel, Sara McMains, and Holly
E. Rushmeier. Computational Aspects of Fabrication.
Dagstuhl Reports 4, 8, 126-150, 2014.
[4]   Stelian Coros, Bernhard Thomaszewski, Gioacchino
Noris, Shinjiro Sueda, Moira Forberg, Robert W.
Sumner, Wojciech Matusik, and Bernd Bickel. Computational design of mechanical characters. ACM Trans.
Graph. 32, 4, 83, 2013.
[5]   David Culler, James Landay, Prabal Dutta, and Eric
Paulos. The New Making Renaissance: Programmable
Matter and Things. Computing Visions 2025. Computing
Community Consortium (CCC), 2014.
[6]   Laura Devendorf, Kimiko Ryokai. Being the Machine: Reconfiguring Agency and Control in HybridFabrication. In Proc. CHI '15, 2477-2486.
[7]   Madeline Gannon, Tovi Grossman, and George
Fitzmaurice. Tactum: A Skin-Centric Approach to Digital
Design and Fabrication. In Proc. CHI '15, 1779-1788.
[8]   Ryan Luke Johns. Augmented Reality and the Fabrication of Gestural Form. ROB ARCH 2012.
[9]   Markus Kayser. SolarSinter. 2010.

Participants submitting an envisioned cross-disciplinary
research project are required to include one
sketch/image that showcases their idea.
At least one author of each accepted position paper
must attend the workshop and register for the workshop and for at least one day of the conference.

References[1]   Morehshin Allahyari. Material Speculation: ISIS.
2015.
[2]   Bok Yeop Ahn, Steven B. Walker, Scott C. Slimmer,Analisa Russo, Ashley Gupta, Eric B. Duoss, Thomas F.
Malkowski, and Jennifer A. Lewis. Planar and Three-[10]   Behrokh Kjoshnevis. Automated Construction By
Contour Crafting. Journal of Automation in Construction, 13, 1, 5-19, 2004.
[11]   Manfred Lau, Christian Weichel, and Nicolas Villar.
2013. Workshop on personal and pervasive fabrication(PerFab 2013). In Proc. UbiComp '13 Adjunct, 939-944.
[12]   Jurg Lehni. Hektor. 2002.
[13]   David Mellis, Sean Follmer, Björn Hartmann, Leah
Buechley, and Mark D. Gross. 2013. FAB at CHI: digital
fabrication tools, design, and community. In Proc. CHI
EA '13, 3307-3310.
[14]   Minibuilders, http://robots.iaac.net/

[15]   Stefanie Mueller and Patrick Baudisch. Low-Fidelity
Fabrication: Speeding up Design Iteration of 3D Objects. In Proc. CHI EA '15, 327-330.
[16]   Sean V. Murphy, A. Atala. 3D bioprinting of tissues
and organs. Nature Biotechnology 32, 773–785, 2014.
[17]   Huaishu Peng, Jennifer Mankoff, Scott E. Hudson,and James McCann. 2015. A Layered Fabric 3D Printerfor Soft Interactive Objects. In Proc. CHI '15, 17891798.
[18]   Romain Prévost, Emily Whiting, Sylvain Lefebvre,
and Olga Sorkine-Hornung. Make it stand: balancing
shapes for 3D fabrication. ACM Trans. Graph. 32, 4, 81,
2013.
[19]   Valkyrie Savage, Colin Chang, and Björn Hartmann.
Sauron: embedded single-camera sensing of printed
physical user interfaces. In Proc. UIST '13, 447-456.
[20]   Christian Schumacher, Bernd Bickel, Jan Rys, Steve
Marschner, Chiara Daraio, and Markus Gross. Microstructures to control elasticity in 3D printing. ACM
Trans. Graph. 34, 4, Article 136, ‘15.

[21]   Ondrej Stava, Juraj Vanek, Bedrich Benes, Nathan
Carr, and Radomír Měch. Stress relief: improving structural strength of 3D printable objects. ACM Trans.
Graph. 31, 4, 48, 2012.
[22]   Nobuyuki Umetani, Yuki Koyama, Ryan Schmidt,
and Takeo Igarashi. Pteromys: interactive design andoptimization of free-formed free-flight model airplanes.
ACM Trans. Graph. 33, 4, 65, 2014.
[23]   Karl D.D. Willis, Cheng Xu, Kuan-Ju Wu, Golan
Levin, Mark D. Gross. Interactive fabrication: new interfaces for digital fabrication. In Proc. TEI '11, 69-72.
[24]   Jan Willmann, Fabio Gramazio, Matthias Kohler,
Silke Langenberg. Digital by Material: Envisioning anExtended Performative Materiality in the Digital Age ofArchitecture. Rob ARCH 2012.
[25]   Amit Zoran et al. The Wise Chisel: The Rise of theSmart Handheld Tool. IEEE Pervasive Computing, 13, 3,48-57, 2014.