WireShape - A Hybrid Prototyping Process for Fast & Reliable Manufacturing of Inflatable Interface Props with CNC-Fabricated Heat-Sealing Tools

We present WireShape, a CNC-supported semi-manual rapid-prototyping process to create robust inflatable objects. The resulting air chamber systems provide a basis for the construction of shape-changing and malleable user interfaces by integrating sensors, or to create soft robotic actuators. Our process leverages CNC-fabricated bent-wire shapes as custom heat sealing tools for reliable fusing of thermoplastic films or coated textiles. The tools can be reused multiple times and the heat sealing time for fabrication of an individual inflatable is independent of its size (e.g. the length of the two-dimensional welding path), which enables time efficient prototyping of high-quality inflatable structures in small series and at relatively low-cost. We demonstrate a custom CNC-machine for wire bending, a vector graphics interpreter to generate the machine specific CNC-data (G-Code) from 2D vector drawings and outline our fabrication toolchain. The capabilities and limitations of our approach are discussed and preliminary observations and fabrication results from initial workshop sessions are provided.