PopCAD: Toward Paper-Based Fabrication Tools for Education
Ben Leduc-Mills, Michael Eisenberg · 2014
paper describes a prototype device, PopCAD, for straightforward, tangible 3-dimensional input and design. PopCAD is a paper-based pop-up computational artifact that can be carried about easily and unfolded into its working instrumental form. When unfolded, PopCAD allows the user to switch on LED lights in a 3D spatial array; the positions of these lights are sent to a desktop computer for display and manipulation in real time. The intent of the device is thus twofold: first, to provide an experience of embodied construction for students and 3D designers, and second, to illustrate the power and potential of designing sophisticated instruments based on an inexpensive, flexible paper substrate. We describe PopCAD's architecture, its origins in earlier projects, and the learning potential inherent in such a device. We also show a variety of project ideas that the device can implement and we discuss what the device implies for the future of paper-based tangible instrumentation.