Hi, I’m Lea Albaugh, and I’m presenting work on a new kind of loom for computational handweaving.
You can use it to produce multilayered, functional structures; you can embed all kinds of materials
for tunable material properties.
Within HCI, we see design systems for making many-layered fabrics,
and for using complex weave structures as the basis for sophisticated sensing.
However, to unlock the potential of these complex fabrics, you really want a computational loom.
A loom is any device which makes it easier to produce the interlacement which we call weaving.
Often, a loom includes the ability to keep one set of threads in tension
-- we call that the warp --
and selectively raise some of those warp threads, allowing another thread to interlace with them.
A very simple loom like the one in this picture, might only
allow raising one or two sets of threads; for example, you’re choosing between evens and odds.
With a few more moving pieces, you get slightly
more nuanced selection, such as a typical home loom might have.
However, to get to those very complex structures, what you really need is
the ability to separately select *any* of the warp threads. This is what is called a
fully jacquard loom.
It’s important to note that a jacquard mechanism
does *not* have to mean that the whole weaving process is automated.
Factory looms are typically highly automated; they're also typically expensive, large, and
highly optimized for a specific kind of fabric.
In contrast, with a hand loom, the weaver
can incorporate materials which may be difficult to automate for,
and they can even make patterning decisions throughout the process.
Our loom combines the potential complexity of jacquard selection,
plus the flexibility of handweaving in order to support accessible prototyping and experimentation.
The state of the art in jacquard handlooms
are these two machines, which are commonly seen
as prototyping looms in textiles education, or for very serious home handweavers.
However, as you can see they're quite large and they're quite expensive.
This is because their selection mechanism is the same kind of design as in the industrial looms,
in which the individual selection is accomplished every single one with its own separate electromechanical actuator
so that's typically a solenoid or solenoid valve -- for every single thread.
Therefore, the mechanical and electronic complexity scales with the number of warp threads.
In contrast, our loom is portable and relatively inexpensive.
The parts used to build it are mostly the same ones as you’ll see in DIY 3d printers,
so they’re widely available and they're documented for hobby use.
The custom parts are all 3d printable on a low-end filament deposition printer;
so if you have access to such a printer, you can build one of these for about $200.
The central mechanical innovation
is a simple, printable bistable switch.
Each warp thread is controlled by what weavers call a “heddle,”
in our case the includes a bead which can be trapped or freed from a slider.
When the bead is trapped, the warp thread is held up.
When the slider is tapped forward, the bead can drop and lower its corresponding warp.
Because this mechanism is bistable, the selection can therefore be done in *serial*;
in this case, we use a belt drive to position just one solenoid
to strike each chosen slider.
Here’s what that looks and sounds like in action.
[mechanical tapping sounds as solenoid hits sliders]
An advantage of this system is that a weaver
can actually go in and modify the selection.
Indeed, we can even use the weaver’s modifications as input.
To sense the slides, but also minimize the electronic complexity of the loom,
we use a computer vision approach.
We mount a commodity webcam such that its field of view includes the selection array,
and we can use the visual contrast between the slider and its background to determine slider locations.
As you can see, the camera’s field of view extends all the way to the front
part of the loom, where the fabric is being formed.
We can use that as a basis for interactive weaving.
In this demonstration, the weaver wants to weave a double-cloth pocket to contain that foam disc.
Double-cloth weaving is a structure that many weavers, especially beginners, have a difficult time understanding,
but by sensing the object and generating a correct-scale, viable weaving pattern, our loom can make this technique accessible.
Another capability of computerized weaving is the ability to collaborate over the network.
We demonstrate a real-time remote weaving collaboration system.
Using our on-loom input, the weaver’s own modifications can be communicated to a remote collaborator.
The price point and accessibility of this loom mean that the collaborator might even have their own.
I’ve presented an inexpensive personal weaving system which uses serial selection of a passive
bistable heddle mechanism to avoid the electronic complexity of industrial jacquard looms.
Our loom makes jacquard weaving accessible outside of industry and specialized textiles scholarship,
with implications for e-textiles prototyping, fiber arts education, and personal craft.
Thank you for listening!
[Contact Lea: twitter @0x11eaea or email lea@cmu.edu]