Exploring Bio-Inspired Soft Fluidic Actuators and Sensors for the Design of Shape Changing Tangible User Interfaces

This paper provides an overview of my ongoing doctoral research work and the progress made within the exploratory entry phase. The focus of my research is on the development and evaluation of bio-inspired shape changing user interfaces made from soft or malleable materials with fluidic actuation (i.e. hydraulic or pneumatic) and investigates the use, application potentials and the limitations of such systems for interaction design. The work can thereby be regarded as a subtopic of research on shape changing tangible user interfaces with a specific focus on an exploration of the capabilities of biologically inspired, flexible, fluidically pressurized membrane structures to achieve dynamic shape and volume change -- based on observations that such structures are the common building blocks of most living organisms and even complex, dynamic morphologies can emerge from clusters of such "membrane envelopes" [1]. By contributing to a novel category of interfaces that are malleable, inherently capable of isotropic shape change and mechanically compliant, the research further intends to question the fundamental design paradigm of current technological artifacts that are commonly characterized by fixed form factors, rigid mechanisms and static enclosures. The envisioned outcome of my thesis work will include a conceptual framework of soft fluidic interfaces, augmented by case studies and design guidelines to provide researchers and design practitioners with an alternative approach to designing shape changing user interfaces by leveraging fluidic morphologies. Recent advances in research on soft robotic actuators provide an additional basis for explorations and evaluations, aimed at an adaption and evaluation of techniques and principles for tangible interaction design.