Depth Camera Feedback for Guided Fabrication in Augmented Reality

Augmented reality environments have been demonstrated to assist with architectural fabrication tasks by displaying construction information at full scale and in context. However, this information typically needs to be sparse in order to prevent virtual models occluding a fabricators view of the physical environment, and this limits the application of augmented reality to tasks such as surface forming. To address this issue, we propose a method for guided fabrication in augmented reality using real time comparisons between depth scans of as built conditions and target conditions defined by design models. Through the design and fabrication of a small proof of concept prototype from paper strips, we demonstrate that guided fabrication is adequate for high speed, approximate and ad-hoc fabrication of complex surface geometries without the need for extensive rationalization for fabrication constraints or explicit documentation of parts. We further show how this method generalizes to other processes such as additive fabrication or part placement and speculate on the implications of accessible real time depth data from the HoloLens within Grasshopper.