Exploring a Human-Robot Collaborated Crafting Process

The crafting process is almost always a human-tool interactive process. With the advent of digital fabrication technologies, modern day craftsmen may create designs based on these technologies, enhance these technologies to fit their needs, as well as interact with these technologies and work collaboratively to achieve innovative works. We are exploring collaborative interaction through actual practices. Our explorations included two main categories of parameters: programmed controls (on the robot), and manual controls (by the craftsman). As a preliminary result, we have observed interactive crafting patterns that call for predictable movement of machines with support of jigs so that craftsmen may interact intelligently with machines during the crafting process. There are more settings to be explored as the research continues.