Cubimorph

Abstract

We introduce Cubimorph, a modular interactive device that accommodates touchscreens on each of the six module faces, and that uses a hinge-mounted turntable mechanism to self-reconfigure in the user’s hand. Cubimorph contributes toward the vision of programmable matter where interactive devices reconfigure in any shape that can be made out of a chain of cubes in order to fit a myriad of functionalities, e.g. a mobile phone shifting into a console when a user launches a game. We present a design rationale that exposes user requirements to consider when designing homogeneous modular interactive devices. We present our Cubimorph mechanical design, three prototypes demonstrating key aspects (turntable hinges, embedded touchscreens and miniaturization), and an adaptation of the probabilistic roadmap algorithm for the reconfiguration. A Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship funded part of this work. This work is also partially funded by the EPSRC BGER-EP/K004581/1 and the EC’s 7th framework programme through the FET Open scheme (no. 309191) under the GHOST project. Prof Ramani would like to acknowledge partial support from the NSF IGERT on Sustainable Electronics (DGE 1144842) and Donald W. Feddersen Professorship.

Publications

Roudaut A. , Krusteva D. , McCoy M.  , Karnik A.  , Ramani K , Subramanian S. Cubimorph: Designing Modular Interactive Devices . ICRA 2016, the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society’s biggest conference and one of the leading international forums for robotics researchers to present their work. PDF

Videos