2019- 2020

Our goal is to develop the way people view their shoes using modular parts and creating an ongoing relationship between consumers and suppliers. We address this by printing the parts of the sole and the upper separately so the consumer can decide how to match them together. This makes available to the consumer an adaptability and customization to fit their own needs.

in association with	Computational Engineering and Robotics Lab (CERLABs), Autodesk, and the Eindhoven University of Technology
tools	3D printing (sla and fdm) FilaFlex Python Fusion360
skills	project management, hardware/software interfacing, design research, UX

This research is a continuation of research I conducted while at the Eindhoven University of technology. Understanding the waste byproduct of the existing consumer shoe market, my research team focused on designing a modular, additive printed shoe system that a consumer could store flat, wear, return and have re-extruded and switched for new parts. If the shoe could be reduced to three parts––sole, innersole, and upper––the team could isolate materials for each part, creating a closed loop modular system.

Please take a look at the preceding project here on MEDIUM

or YOUTUBE

WHAT IS?

I came back from Eindhoven was interested in the customization of shoes in general. I began to be curious about how to generate soles based on pressure sensitivity data. To begin, I created a pressure sensitive measuring device with embroidered circuitry and a conductive foam to output 3D data.

After collecting a dataset from untold numbers of human feet, I met with CMU Computational Engineering and Robotics Lab’s (CERLAB) Kenji Shimada, and inputted the values into his truss generating algorithm. Using a 3D printer, I made several prototypes of soles, each with a variable truss density that correlated with the shape of the user’s foot.

I began–– and intend to continue––to research the application of programmable structure to the uppers of shoes. Learning from existing prototypes in Filaflex, I can program tangible flexibility, depending on the extrusion pattern, density and cell size of a print. Similar to the sole trussinizations, in areas of the upper that needed less or more structure, the textile could be programmed accordingly.

MY ROLE

I lead this self-guided research both in Eindhoven and in CMU from concept to fabrication.