Digital Fabrication of Standardless Materials

Abstract

Digital fabrication techniques have long been aimed at creating unique geometries and forms from standardized, often industrially produced or processed material. These materials have predictable, uniform geometries which allow the fabrication process to be aimed at producing variation through Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) milling of topological surfaces from volumetric stock or profiles from sheet material. More recently, digital fabrication techniques have been expanded and categorized to address the inherent variation in a found material. Digital materiallurgy defines an approach where standard techniques are applied to non-standard materials; in form-searching, non-standard materials such as unmilled timber members or chunks of concrete waste are analyzed for optimization within a digital fabrication process. Processes of photogrammetry, 3D scanning, and parametric analysis have been used to advance these methods and minimize part reduction and material waste. In this paper, we explore how such methods may be applied to materials without traditional standards—allowing for materials that are inherently variable in geometry to be made usable and for such eccentricities to be leveraged within a design. This paper uses bamboo as a case study for standardless material, and proposes an integrated digital fabrication method for using such material: (1) material stock analysis using sensing technology, (2) parametric best-fit part selection that optimizes a given piece of material within an assembly, and (3) parametric feedback between available material and the design of an assembly which allows for the assembly to adjust its geometry to a set of available parts.