This course teaches the theory, design and fabrication of Pneumatic Shape Changing Interfaces. As a hands-on practice, biomaterials are chosen to design inflatable and edible objects. We have two approaches for the design pneumatic shape changing food: engineering approach and biological approach.

Engineering approach: we introduce Pneuduino for students to create soft transformable objects. In pneumatic design, we will share how to work with the toolkit and share how to program the board to create interactions, shapes and get control over the inflating objects of curiosity.

Biological approach: We will introduce the culturing and fermentation process of yeast.  A bio-safety level 1 lab from chemical engineering department will be dedicated for this session. In biological fermentation, we will emphasize on the knowledge in food science and engineering, and apply the knowledge in the hands-on session to control the bread growth.

Design Workshop: For the design workshop, the topic is “inflated appetite”. We use food material to create inflatable shapes. We will demonstrate the process based on our existing research outcome. Students will be encouraged to think about shapes from different aspects: composite structure, material anisotropy, elasticity and viscoelasticity, etc.