Disney Research Creates Compiler For Industrial 3D Knitting Of Apparel & Structures

Apparel, Footwear, Fashion

Disney Research Creates Compiler For Industrial 3D Knitting Of Apparel & Structures

Disney Research has introduced automated knitting via industrial 3D printing for apparel and pieces like plush toys. This isn't a new concept in terms of automation, and there are numerous reports on other innovations from 3D printed knitting machines to actually 3D scanned and 3D printed knitted designs. While this technology offers a host of benefits in terms of being able to create in a self-sustained fashion, affordably, and most of all - offering ease in customization - these features haven't really been applicable to knitting. And as the researchers point out, automated knitting needs refinement on both the industrial and domestic front.

Now, the researchers are working to make this an easier process, as well as allowing for knitted items generally considered to be more high level to be made using simple instructions. The team refers to this as a compiler, and it works according to a transfer planning algorithm which is able to perform stitching according to position and length, as well as using shape primitives to make them into items that can be customised. The researchers outline their new machine and exactly what it does in 'A Compiler for 3D Knitting Machine,' by James McCann, Lea Albaugh, Vidya Narayanan, April Grow, Wojciech Matusik, Jen Mankoff, and Jessica Hodgins. The researchers are affiliated with Disney Research, UC Santa Cruz,Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and/or Carnegie Mellon University.

The basic tasks an industrial knitting machine needs to perform are: knit, tuck, split, and transfer. Their compiler is able to accept needle instructions for two primitives: tubes and sheets, and a basic user interface helps with editing information. The user is able to adjust the scheduling of a design to make it knittable, and then the compiler translates everything into instructions.

"At the core of our compiler is a heuristic transfer planning algorithm for knit cycles, which we prove is both sound and complete," state the researchers in their paper. "This algorithm enables the translation of high-level shaping and scheduling operations into needle-level operations."

The idea is to move away from traditional knitting machines which allow only for a 'fixed palette' of objects with customisation rarely available in any form. Motivated to create more flexibility in automated knitting, the research team has created a way for their users not only to 'create at a high level,' but also to change:

1. Knitting order

2. Needle location

3. Shape

4. Scale

The user is also able to discern which needles are being used in case they need to adjust-all possible without interrupting the shape they are currently working with.

The research team states that the main benefits of using their compiler are:

1. High-level schedule and structure manipulation

2. Knitting assembly language that formalizes low-level operations

3. A compiler with transfer-planning heuristic for cycles

Numerous customisations and edits can be made, for example: stitch widths can be decreased or widths can be increased. Splits can be used instead of tucks, and shapes can be changed with short rows when making items like socks, and rounding out the heels.

"The focus of our compiler is to make it easier to create knit structures; however, many knit objects also use various combinations of stitches to create interesting surface textures," state the researchers.

"Partially-knit rows can be used to bend shapes, as in the heel of this sock, and create bulges, as in this whimsical hat."

As they continue this work, the team plans to work on support surface texturing with additional local programmes, as well as focusing on creating 'optimisation passes' for the compiler that will facilitate creativity in making objects on home-knitting machines too, which they describe as 'severely restricted machines' that have not been updated in decades.