This course explores the design of human-in-the-loop interactive systems for fabrication, where human input, computational logic, and real-time feedback are integrated into a unified workflow.
The course focuses on the relationship between user input, system processing, and responsive output. Students will explore different forms of interaction—including mouse, gesture, vision-based systems, and physical interfaces—and learn how these inputs can be interpreted and translated into meaningful system behaviors.
Rather than directly generating form, users interact with systems that modulate rules, behaviors, and fabrication processes. These interactions are structured through computational frameworks such as mapping strategies, finite state machines (FSM), and behavioral logic.
Special attention is given to user experience, human-centered design, and interaction design, encouraging students to create systems that are intuitive, engaging, and spatial. The course emphasizes physical and embodied interaction, avoiding conventional screen-based paradigms and ensuring that systems do not behave like touch interfaces.
Students will develop a complete interactive system within a controlled setup, integrating input methods, system logic, and feedback mechanisms. The course culminates in the design of a rule-based system using projection mapping, where interaction guides the process through real-time visual feedback.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
A headset-based AR platform that guides a human assembler through complex joinery step by step, projecting ghost geometry directly onto the physical parts in 3D space. The system closes the feedback loop in real time, reading part placement through the device’s own cameras and advancing the assembly sequence automatically when each joint is correctly seated. … Read more
