Liquid Printed Sneaker

Bachelor’s Thesis in Fashion & Technology

Universität für künstlerische und industrielle Gestaltung Linz

July 2022

BACKGROUND

In 2017, MIT‘s Self-Assembly Lab published „Large-Scale Rapid Liquid Printing“, outlining a new manufacturing method for liquid materials. Deposited into a thick, clear gel, the material cures into shape. This thesis explores the application of liquid printing to sneakers. Entry into that market currently requires expensive injection moulding tools. Processing the same footwear materials with this technology requires no expensive moulds and makes one-off models possible.

SETUP

The material is pneumatically extruded and mixed. The extruder is mounted onto a six-axis industrial robotic arm that guides it through the gel. In addition to following a path, the robot can also vary the tools orientation, increasing complexity.

VR WORKFLOW

This project implements a workflow that translates intuitive drawing in 3D space to movements of the robot. This creates a blurry boundary between the physical and the file, where real movements create real objects through a digital bridge.

The shoe is sketched and developed in Virtual Reality, drawn with lines in 3D space.

The movement is converted to a tool path for an industrial robotic arm.

REPAIR

Sneakers, unlike traditional shoes, cannot be fitted with new soles and are quickly thrown out. Even if replacement soles were available, no store could stock them for all models and sizes. With liquid printing, they can be produced locally and on demand, for repairing and customising sneakers.