World of Scientific Puzzle Art Using Layer Manufacturing

Yasunari Watanabe^1,2,3*, Yuji Ikegami^2,3, Kenji Yamazawa² and Yoshiko Murakami¹

¹Department of Information, Teikyoheisei University, Ichihara, Chiba 290-0193, Japan
²Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
³Interdisciplinary Institute of Science, Technology and Art ISTA, Asaka, Saitama 351-0036, Japan
*E-mail address: watanabe@thu.ac.jp

(Received October 13, 2005; Accepted November 25, 2005)

Keywords: Puzzle Art, Layer Manufacturing, 3D Escher Pattern, 3D Jigsaw Puzzle, Color Matching Puzzle

Abstract. Three types of intelligent puzzle, a three-dimensional Escher puzzle (3DES), a 3D jigsaw puzzle (3DJG) and a color matching cubocatahedron puzzle (CUB), are developed by layer manufacturing. Each puzzle contains a common packing problem. Furthermore, there exist two important mechanisms, the rotation of CUB and the translation of 3DJG. 3DES is obtained on the basis of periodic arrangement of icosahedrons, 3DJG is patterned from a dovetail joint, and CUB is derived from the closest packing of the face-centered cubic (fcc) structure.