FabricatINK: Personal Fabrication of Bespoke Displays Using Electronic Ink from Upcycled E Readers

Ollie Hanton, Zichao Shen, Mike Fraser, Anne Roudaut

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

FabricatINK explores the personal fabrication of irregularly-shaped low-power displays using electronic ink (E ink). E ink is a programmable bicolour material used in traditional form-factors such as E readers. It has potential for more versatile use within the scope of personal fabrication of custom-shaped displays, and it has the promise to be the pre-eminent material choice for this purpose. We appraise technical literature to identify properties of E ink, suited to fabrication. We identify a key roadblock, universal access to E ink as a material, and we deliver a method to circumvent this by upcycling broken electronics. We subsequently present a novel fabrication method for irregularly-shaped E ink displays. We demonstrate our fabrication process and E ink's versatility through ten prototypes showing different applications and use cases. By addressing E ink as a material for display fabrication, we uncover the potential for users to create custom-shaped truly bistable displays.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCHI 2022 - Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Number of pages15
ISBN (Electronic)9781450391573
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 29 Apr 2022
Event2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2022 - Virtual, Online, United States
Duration: 30 Apr 20225 May 2022

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2022
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityVirtual, Online
Period30/04/225/05/22

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 ACM.

Research Groups and Themes

  • Bristol Interaction Group

Keywords

  • Display
  • E ink
  • E reader
  • Electrophoretic
  • Fabrication
  • Free-Form Display
  • Prototyping

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