AdaCAD

AdaCAD interface with a complex weaving pattern

Designing smart textiles presents design constraints that differ from traditional weaving processes. However, design tools that address these needs do not yet exist, so designers of smart textiles tend to adapt their use of traditional weaving design tools to accomplish their goals. To address this problem, we are creating a computational design tool for smart textile weaving that blends features from traditional weaving software with circuit design tools. The software presents new representations and processes for designing smart weaves. In the future, we hope to extend the software to support methods of generative and data-driven design.

Note: The project's name is an homage to Ada Lovelace, the 19th Century mathematician who applied punchcard technology used to define fabric patterns in commercial looms to a mechanical computational device she was developing with Charles Babbage. In so doing, she created the world's first programmable computer. 

The project is supported by National Science Foundation Grants #2346150, #1943109, and #1755587.

Unstable Design Lab    Unstable Design Lab Website

Associated Researchers

Publications

Shanel Wu, Xavier A Corr, Xi Gao, Sasha De Koninck, Robin Bowers, and Laura Devendorf. 2024. "Loom Pedals: Retooling Jacquard Weaving for Improvisational Design Workflows". In: Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (TEI '24). (New York, NY, February 11, 2024).

Laura Devendorf, Shanel Wu, and Mikhaila Friske. 2023. "Making Design Tools Like a Weaver: Four Rules". In: XRDS Volume 29, Issue 4 (Summer 2023). 

Laura Devendorf, Kathryn Walters, Marianne Fairbanks, Etta Sandry, Emma R. Goodwill. 2023. “AdaCAD: Parametric Design as a New Form of Notation for Complex Weaving”. In: CHI '23: Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Hamburg, Germany, April 23-28, 2023).  

Shanel Wu and Laura Devendorf. 2020. "Unfabricate: Designing Smart Textiles for Disassembly". In: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’20). (Honolulu, Hawaii (virtual)–April 25-30, 2020).

Mikhaila Friske, Shanel Wu and Laura Devendorf. 2019. "AdaCAD: Crafting Software For Smart Textiles Design". In: Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '19).(Glasgow, UK – May 4-9, 2019). [Best Paper Honorable Mention]