Intermittent Interaction in Digital Fabrication: User Perception of Periodic Intervention in Semi-Automated Creation Tasks

Intermittent Interaction is a turn-taking approach used to interact with fabrication devices to do something that otherwise would be impractical or impossible for the machine. We investigate how people perceive intermittent interactions in a controlled study. A LEGO assembly task with timed lock boxes simulates human involvement with a semi-automated machine process, similar to a 3D printer. This is used in an in situ study with 12 participants over 4-hour sessions with experimental controls for number of interactions and step complexity. Results suggest complex interactions during assembly can amplify the perceived value of the assembled object and increase enjoyment. Participants used either a clustered or evenly distributed strategy to schedule interactions, which can be modelled with simple heuristics. We contribute evidence that intermittent interaction is generally acceptable for creation tasks and practical guidelines for integrating intermittent interactions into semi-automated fabrication systems.