Morphing Material as Second Skin

‘Second Skin’ is an engineered epidermal interface. It is an augmentation or alternation of our existing skin.

For the final projects of Morphing Materials at Carnegie Mellon University in the winter of 2019, we asked the students to prototype such ‘morphing second skin’. In this assignment, students were asked to envision the form and function of a ‘second skin’, which serves as an interface, to mediate between the human body, space, the physical objects, and the virtual information.

Morphing Mechanisms

Students came up with different morphing mechanisms, some hold up non-trivial intellectual contribution. ‘Bistable hair length’ by Lea Albaugh created direction-dependent coiling and uncoiling through buckling. The switch or buckling is triggered by a simple push or pull with hand. The direction of the coils can be preprogrammed. ‘Draw strings’ by Julita Przybylska and Hannah can achieve a reversible and sequential folding with a very unique knitting pipe. The tendon actuator explored by Jennifer Kong, Junwoo Cheong, Olivia Keller can transform flat fabric pieces into various bending, coiling and wrinkling effects.

Morphing Primitives for ‘Bistable Hair Length’ | by Lea Albaugh

Morphing Primitives for ‘Draw Strings’ | By Julita Przybylska and Hannah Cai

Morphing Primitives for ‘Morphing Dances’ | Jennifer Kong, Junwoo Cheong, Olivia Keller

Morphing Context

Students built bridges between morphing materials and different social and cultural contexts. (Unfinished… to be continued)

‘Morphing Dances’ | Jennifer Kong, Junwoo Cheong, Olivia Keller