MIT CSAIL releases X-Hinges design software that 3D-prints everyday objects into interactive devices with built-in sensing

Researchers at MIT CSAIL and Tianjin University have introduced X-Hinges design software, which automatically embeds two different materials when 3D-printing interactive objects, allowing sensor signals and wire-like traces to avoid interfering with each other, and supports up to three axes of motion. The team used it to make a smart glove that transmits grasp-motion data to a humanoid robotic hand, an origami-style desk lamp that senses pinching to adjust brightness, and a detection device that can identify the objects placed on it, and used a computer vision system to align sensor-reading differences among devices from the same batch. The work will be presented at UIST.