Personalizing Product Design with Minimal Material Waste

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The laser cutting design software Kyub, developed in Patrick Baudisch’s lab at Hasso Plattner Institute, allows users to design and fabricate high-quality physical prototypes with the help of subtractive fabrication machines, such as laser cutters. In this project, the team of researchers from MIT and HPI introduce the notion of sustainability into the software. The team developed software that will suggest how to reduce material consumption–during editing and in real-time–while minimizing impact in the design intent. This builds on a fast layout algorithm developed at Stefanie Mueller’s lab at MIT. The team then evaluates how well both objectives, i.e., design intent and material efficiency can be achieved at the same time.

Baudisch, Mueller, and their team refined the software to guide users in adjusting designs efficiently, helping them stay within material limits while keeping their creative vision. This project led to a subsequent collaborative project exploring sustainable 3D printing materials.