The Dishmaker is a project from the MIT Media Lab’s former ‘Counter Intelligence Group’ by Leonardo Bonanni. He describes it as ‘…a new kind of appliance that makes cups, bowls and plates on demand and recycles them when you’re done’. Check out the video below for an overview of the system.
They published a paper at the CHI conference in 2005 entitled ‘Dishmaker: Personal Fabrication Interface’. There is an interesting quote from the related work section that frames the problem Interactive Fabrication seeks to address:
The idea of rapid prototyping has led to a number of different products already affordable by research laboratories and educational institutions. These employ sophisticated modeling and fabrication to produce accurate, complex forms in small quantities over large periods of time. At the same time, the objects are homogenous lumps of paper, plaster or plastic and require intensive training and post-processing.
Five years on this is still very much the case. Despite much evangelizing about the ‘Desktop Fabrication Revolution’, the reality is that there is still a great amount of technical expertise required.
I don’t find the Dishmaker particularly compelling, but it does raise some important issues. Namely, designing for the entire life-cycle of the product -- in this case creating a dish that can be reformed into another shape. The ability to undo a form in the physical world is non-trivial. Also important is the design of fabrication systems that are not one-size-fits all -- in this case they created a specific solution with a variable pressure-mold system. Unfortunately the interface is very generic in the form of a standard touchscreen.
