Shape Approximation by Surface Reuse

The manufacturing industry faces an urgent need to transition from the linear “make‐take‐use‐dispose” production model towards more sustainable circular models that retain resources in the production chain. Motivated by this need, we introduce the new problem of approximating 3D surfaces by reusing panels from other surfaces. We present an algorithm that takes as input one or several existing shapes and relies on partial shape registration to identify a small set of simple panels that, once cut from the existing shapes and transformed rigidly, approximate a target shape within a user‐defined distance threshold. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate our algorithm in the context of rapid prototyping, where we harvest curved panels from plastic bottles and assemble them with custom connectors to fabricate medium‐size freeform structures.