LumosX: 3D Printed Anisotropic Light-Transfer

Light's interaction with object surfaces through anisotropic reflectionwhere reflected light varies with viewing angles-offers significant potential for enhancing visual capabilities and assisting informed decision-making. Such ubiquitous light transfer phenomenon supports directional information encoding in sensing and dynamic display applications.

We present LumosX, a set of techniques for encoding and decoding information through light intensity changes using 3D-printed optical anisotropic properties. By optimizing directional reflection and brightness contrasts through off-the-shelf materials and precise control over processing parameters (e.g., extrusion volume, raster angles, layer height, nozzle positioning), we enable cost-effective fabrication of visually enhanced objects. Our method supports modular assembly for highly curved regular surfaces and direct printing on top of relatively flat curved surfaces, enabling flexible information encoding for diverse applications. We showcase LumosX's effectiveness through various indoor and smart urban sensing scenarios, demonstrating significant improvements in both human interaction and autonomous machine perception.

• Hardware → Sensors and actuators; Sensor applications and deployments; • Human-centered computing → Human computer interaction (HCI).