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%...
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46039952
Wonder if I should braid my wired earphones for storage to prevent tangling. I can keep the cable inside a pouch with the earpieces out but that's not very satisfactory.
My current fascination knitted ropes/cables/cords. These are not the typical ropes that are spun and coiled and held together by friction. These ones made of synthetic fibres look like woven tubes, but the insides aren't hollow. The insides seem packed with more woven tubes.
What I really want to see though, are 3d knitted heavy duty carbon fibre flywheels of optimal shape such that it's under equal radial stress everywhere. The shape is interesting to compute for a solid one.
That said, I love the idea of specifying and being able to knit in 3D. We just need a brilliant designer to come up with something that would be really great to have knit and can’t be knit with traditional techniques. And like six revs of the hardware for scale, tensioning, yarn size, etc.
Anyway - really cool.
In addition to directly creating volumes of knitting, rather than sheets or surfaces, this also reduces constraints on stitch connection, since it can depart from the strict structure of alternating row passes.
The Lowell Offering may be in line with the work presented in this paper.