Development of Physical Connectors To Assemble Unfolded Planar Panels for the Construction of Large Shapes

Abstract

In this work, I propose to identify and construct physical counterparts of the links in geometric data structures that are used in shape modeling. These physical connections will be used to construct large shapes from unfolded polygonal meshes that are represented by geometric data structures. I will implement physical connectors as an extension to a unfolding system that has been developing in our laboratory at Texas A&M University. Using these connectors, any unfolded shape can be constructed by using laser-cut developable panels based on corresponding data structures. This approach is particularly suitable to construct complicated sculptural and architectural shapes from anisotropic materials that can only be bent in one direction.