Carnegie Mellon Textiles Lab
SPEERLoom: An Open-Source Loom Kit for Interdisciplinary Engagement in Math, Engineering, and Textiles
Abstract
Weaving is a fabrication process that is grounded in mathematics and engineering: from the binary, matrix-like nature of the pattern drafts weavers have used for centuries, to the punch card programming of the frst Jacquard looms. This intersection of disciplines provides an opportunity to ground abstract mathematical concepts in a concrete and embodied art, viewing this textile art through the lens of engineering. Currently, available looms are not optimized to take advantage of this opportunity to increase mathematics learning by providing hands-on interdisciplinary learning in collegiate classrooms. In this work, we present SPEERLoom: an open-source, robotic Jacquard loom kit designed to be a tool for interweaving cloth fabrication, mathematics, and engineering to support interdisciplinary learning in the classroom. We discuss the design requirements and subsequent design of SPEERLoom. We also present the results of a pilot study in a post-secondary class fnding that SPEERLoom supports hands-on, interdisciplinary learning of math, engineering, and textiles.
Citation
Samantha Speer, Ana P Garcia-Alonzo, Joey Huang, Nickolina Yankova, Carolyn Rosé, Kylie A Peppler, James Mccann, and Melisa Orta Martinez. 2023. SPEERLoom: An Open-Source Loom Kit for Interdisciplinary Engagement in Math, Engineering, and Textiles. In Proceedings of the 36th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST '23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 93, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1145/3586183.3606724
@inproceedings{speer:2023:loom,
author = {Speer, Samantha and Garcia-Alonzo, Ana P and Huang, Joey and Yankova, Nickolina and Ros\'{e}, Carolyn and Peppler, Kylie A and Mccann, James and Orta Martinez, Melisa},
title = {SPEERLoom: An Open-Source Loom Kit for Interdisciplinary Engagement in Math, Engineering, and Textiles},
year = {2023},
isbn = {9798400701320},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3586183.3606724},
doi = {10.1145/3586183.3606724},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 36th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology},
articleno = {93},
numpages = {15},
location = {San Francisco, CA, USA},
series = {UIST '23},
}