Demo Hour

HandiMate

The combination of technological progress and a growing interest in design has promoted the rise of DIY (do it yourself) and craft activities. In a similar spirit, we introduce HandiMate, a platform that makes it easier to fabricate and animate electromechanical systems from everyday objects without technical expertise. Users assemble their handcrafted creations with joint modules and animate them via gestures. The joint modules are packaged with an actuator, a wireless communication device, and a micro-controller. This modularization makes quick electromechanical prototyping a matter of pressing together Velcro. Animating these constructions is made intuitive and simple by a glove-based gestural controller. We further conducted studies to evaluate the gender perception of the kit. We found that via the act of crafting, the kit appeals to both genders equally.

https://engineering.purdue.edu/cdesign/wp/?p=2504

Seehra, J.S., Verma, A., Peppler, K., and Ramani, K. HandiMate: Create and animate using everyday objects as material. Proc. of the Ninth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction. ACM, New York, 2015, 117–124. DOI: 10.1145/2677199.2680570

Verma, A., Yoon, S.H., Peppler, K., and Ramani, K. HandiMate: Exploring a modular robotics kit animating crafted toys. Proc. of Interaction Design and Children 2015. To appear.

Jasjeet Singh Seehra, Purdue University
[email protected]

Ansh Verma, Purdue University
[email protected]

Kylie Peppler, Indiana University Bloomington
[email protected]

Karthik Ramani, Purdue University
[email protected]