Tangible Formations

This project examines the potential of using tangible interfaces and sensor feedback to develop
an intuitive haptic design and construction process utilizing granular jamming. By taking
advantage of the variable stiffness of granular jamming, we create an adaptive fabrication
process, where the user can easily and quickly create various formations by touching and
forming individual jammed units which can weave or interlock in an overall system. Throughout
the process, a tangible interface guides the user’s design decisions and operations, based on
predesigned formal and tectonic strategies from a background computational process and
library. By recording and storing the formations that multiple users produce with their own
hands, this background computational library expands and learns from the successes and
failures of previous iterations, ultimately developing a robust and open-ended design and
construction strategy for granular jamming.