Comment by merelysounds

4 days ago

> Until recently most textile fabrication processes were limited to the creation of surface-based forms.

If you enjoyed this article, you might enjoy looking at the existing knitting machines, many are fascinating and very accessible. There are models powered by a hand crank[1], or with programmable patterns[2], or open source (open hardware).

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_knitting#/media/File%...

[2]: https://machineknitting.fandom.com/wiki/Silver_F370K

Are there croquet machines yet? Googling is really confusing with lots of forum people saying there aren't any true ones, and lots of webshops claiming to sell them.

  • There are some simplified crochet patterns that can be mechanized, but for the most part we haven't found a way to generically mechanize crochet.

    I don't fully understand why, apparently most patterns require manipulating the yarn in a way that simply requires human dexterity?

  • No. Machines cannot do that reliably, it's still in the realm of research. Crochet is much less simplifiable compared to knitting