Introduction
Our goal is to bridge the gap between the virtual and the real world, and to unleash the full potential of modern fabrication technology with the help of computational methods. We investigate novel algorithms and approaches for acquiring, simulating, and fabricating artifacts, structures, and robots. We also focus on the representation and intuitive editing of material properties as well as higher-level computational design tools, allowing to intuitively and quickly create custom content.
Topics
Robotic Creatures and Mechanical Characters
Animated mechanical characters have intrigued mankind for millennia, though it took the skill of an ingenious designer and engineer to create them in the past. With the advent of advanced manufacturing techniques and easy-to-use microcontrollers, the means for creating personalized mechanical toys, artifacts, or even robots has become widely available. However, without the assistance of specialized software, designing such mechanisms is still a virtually impossible task for casual users. We investigate the use of simulation and optimization to support the creation of individualized mechanical characters and robots.
Deformable Materials
How objects deform can be an essential part of their perception and function. Part of our research focuses on controlling or reproducing the deformation behavior of physical objects. We employ specialized optimization approaches and state-of-the-art fabrication methods, with a focus on 3D printing, to create multi-material objects or metamaterials with specific deformation properties.
Computational Design
Many traditional design processes involve of substantial amount of trial and error iterations, making the process slow and expensive, and discouraging complexity. Computational design approaches aim to alleviate these problems through computational methods. Visualization, simulation, and optimization are used to highlight design problems, predict the real-world behavior of objects without the need to build them, and automatically improve the design, so the designer can focus on the creative part of the design process. We have applied this computational design paradigm to a wide variety of design problems, from balloons and inflatables to furniture design and architecture.
Publications
2017
V. Megaro, J. Zehnder, M. Bächer, S. Coros, M. Gross, B. Thomaszewski
A Computational Design Tool for Compliant Mechanisms
Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH (Los Angeles, United States, July 30 - August 3, 2017), ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 82:1--82:12
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V. Megaro, E. Knoop, A. Spielberg, D. Levin, W. Matusik, M. Gross, B. Thomaszewski, M. Bächer
Designing Cable-Driven Actuation Networks for Kinematic Chains and Trees
Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGGRAPH/Eurographics Symposium on Computer Animation (Los Angeles, United States, July 28-30, 2017), pp. 15:1--15:10
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2016
C. Schumacher, B. Thomaszewski, M. Gross
Stenciling: Designing Structurally-Sound Surfaces with Decorative Patterns
Proceedings of Eurographics Symposium on Geometry Processing (Berlin, Germany, June 20-24, 2016), Computer Graphics Forum, vol. 35, no. 5, 2016, pp. 101-110
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2015
V. Megaro, B. Thomaszewski, M. Nitti, O. Hilliges, M. Gross, S. Coros
Interactive Design of 3D-printable Robotic Creatures
Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH Asia (Kobe, November 2 - November 5, 2015), ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 34, no. 6, pp. 216:1--216:9
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C. Schumacher, B. Bickel, J. Rys, S. Marschner, C. Daraio, M. Gross
Microstructures to Control Elasticity in 3D Printing
Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH (Los Angeles, USA, August 9-13, 2015), ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 136:1-136:13
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2014
B. Thomaszewski, S. Coros, D. Gauge, V. Megaro, E. Grinspun, M. Gross
Computational Design of Linkage-Based Characters
Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH (Vancouver, Canada, August 10-14, 2014), ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 64:1--64:9
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M. Skouras, B. Thomaszewski, P. Kaufmann, A. Garg, B. Bickel, E. Grinspun, M. Gross
Designing Inflatable Structures
Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH (Vancouver, Canada, August 10-14, 2014), ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 63:1--63:10
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2013
M. Papas, C. Regg, W. Jarosz, B. Bickel, P. Jackson, W. Matusik, S. Marschner, M. Gross
Fabricating Translucent Materials using Continuous Pigment Mixtures
Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH (Anaheim, USA, July 21-25, 2013), ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 146:1-146:12
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M. Skouras, B. Thomaszewski, S. Coros, B. Bickel, M. Gross
Computational Design of Actuated Deformable Characters
Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH (Anaheim, USA, July 21-25, 2013), ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 82:1-82:10
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2012
S. Coros, S. Martin, B. Thomaszewski, C. Schumacher, R. Sumner, M. Gross
Deformable Objects Alive!
Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH (Los Angeles, USA, August 5-9, 2012), ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 69:1-9
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M. Papas, T. Houit, D Nowrouzezahrai, M. Gross, W. Jarosz
The Magic Lens: Refractive Steganography
Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH Asia (Singapore, November 28 - December 1, 2012), ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 31, no. 6, pp. 186:1-186:10
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B. Bickel, P. Kaufmann, M. Skouras, B. Thomaszewski, D. Bradley, T. Beeler, P. Jackson, S. Marschner, W. Matusik, M. Gross
Physical Face Cloning
Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH (Los Angeles, USA, August 5-9, 2012), ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 118:1-118:10
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M. Skouras, B. Thomaszewski, B. Bickel, M. Gross
Computational Design of Rubber Balloons
Proceedings of Eurographics (Cagliari, Italy, May 13-18, 2012), Computer Graphics Forum, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 835-844
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2011
S. Martin, B. Thomaszewski, E. Grinspun, M. Gross
Example-Based Elastic Materials
Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH (Vancouver, Canada, August 7-11, 2011), ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 72:1-72:8
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2010
B. Bickel, M. Bächer, M. Otaduy, H. R. Lee, H. Pfister, M. Gross, W. Matusik
Design and Fabrication of Materials with Desired Deformation Behavior
Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH (Los Angeles, USA, July 25-29, 2010), ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 63:1-63:10
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S. Martin, P. Kaufmann, M. Botsch, E. Grinspun, M. Gross
Unified Simulation of Elastic Rods, Shells, and Solids
Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH (Los Angeles, USA, July 25-29, 2010), ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 39:1-39:10
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