Off

Researchers from ATLAS Institute's THING, ACME and Unstable Design labs took home "Best Paper" and "Best Pictorial" awards at the ACM conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS '19), held in San Diego, June 23-28. ATLAS faculty and students also contributed four research presentations, including one by undergraduate researcher Jolie Klefeker, an engineering student majoring in Technology, Arts & Media who was previously chosen as a Grace Hopper Research Scholar.

DIS is an international and interdisciplinary conference encompassing issues related to the design and deployment of interactive systems, where designers, artists, theorists, psychologists, user experience researchers, systems engineers and many more come together to debate and shape the future of interaction systems research, design and practice.

ATLAS research presented at DIS '19:

• "MorphIO: Entirely Soft Sensing and Actuation Modules for Programming Shape Changes through Tangible Interaction," authored by Ryo Suzuki and researchers from Keio University and The University of Tokyo in Japan, won a DIS '19 "Best Paper" award. Suzuki, an ATLAS affiliated PhD student, presented the research during the conference's Shape Changes Interfaces track. MorphIO addresses problems that researchers face when trying to program movements in soft materials: Instead of transferring compiled code from a digital screen to objects, MorphIO’s hardware enables users to program behaviors using motion-capture data gathered from physical movement and interactions. It also allows users to construct various shapes and synthesize multiple recorded motions to achieve complex movements, such as bending, gripping and walking.
• ATLAS PhD students Peter Gyory and Clement Zheng's game HOT SWAP was showcased during the Provocations and Work-in-Progress session at DIS '19, and Gyory also presented the research during the conference's poster and demo reception. One of the most original aspects of Zheng and Gyory's game, which received the coveted alt.ctrl.GDC award at this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, is the use of a wide range of game controllers which must be switched to perform different functions within the game. 
• Research from "Envisioning Reflective, Relaxing, and Restorative Design with ASMR," a work-in-progress paper authored by Josephine Klefeker and Laura Devendorf, was presented by lead author, Klefeker, an undergraduate TAM major and researcher in the Unstable Design Lab, during the Works-in-Progress track of DIS '19. The research was inspired by Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) media, where gentle repetitive sounds, such as listening to a whispering voice or the sounds of pages turning, elicit, for some, relaxing tingling sensations at the back of the skull that move down the back of the neck and upper spine. The research covered five research subjects who used a sonic toolkits to make recordings inspired by ASMR media. The work looks at whether the aesthetics of ASMR media can inspire the design of technology that provokes reflective thoughts and relaxation.
• “,” authored by Clement Zheng, HyunJoo Oh, Laura Devendorf, and Ellen Yi-Luen Do, won the "Best Pictorial" award at DIS '19. Lead author, Zheng, an ATLAS PhD student, presented the research during the DIS '19 Deformable and Novel Materials track. This inquiry into carbon-coated paper and kirigami structures involved investigating two variations of the paper and their electrical, haptic and visual aspects when shaped into 3D forms through cutting, folding and bending. Three applications that showcase the possibilities of this material for tangible interaction design were proposed. Researchers also used a pictorial format of working design schematics so others could explore on their own.

Off

“,” authored by Clement Zheng, HyunJoo Oh, Laura Devendorf, and Ellen Yi-Luen Do, won the "Best Pictorial" award at the Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '19), held in San Diego June 23-28. Lead author, Zheng, an ATLAS PhD student, presented the research during the conference's Deformable and Novel Materials track. 

Off

The dissertations of all five 2019 graduates of the ATLAS Institute's PhD in Technology, Media & Society program emphasize empowering groups that tend to be less engaged in engineering fields. The five graduates are all women, itself a group that is underrepresented in engineering.

“There are opportunities to make our learning systems more equitable, empowering and inclusive of the amazing diversity in the human experience,” says Abigale Stangl, a graduating PhD student who researched how to make media and information systems more accessible for people who are blind or visually impaired. “We need to think about how to change social conversations about what’s possible for people of all different abilities.”

Women, people with disabilities, and most minority groups, including African Americans, Latinos, American Indians and Alaska Natives are all underrepresented in science and engineering (S&E), according to the 2019 Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities Report by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics.  The proportion of the underrepresented groups is lowest in engineering, computer sciences and physics. 

Mark Gross, director of the ATLAS Institute, points out that ATLAS PhD students embrace many topics and this clustering is a little unusual, but that ATLAS is a place that seeks to empower everyone to engage with technology and engineering. “Historically, engineering and computing have been dominated by white men like me," says Gross.  He references the research of this year's ATLAS graduation speaker, inventor Leah Buechley, a CU Boulder alumna with a PhD in computer science from the College of Engineering and Applied Science; she pointed out in a paper that of the 36 covers of Make Magazine published to date, 85 percent featured white males. None were people of color.

"Until we change those numbers, we’re missing out on great talent. Our graduating PhD students exemplify that talent," adds Gross.

In their dissertations, Donna Auguste and Simone Hyater-Adams sought to broaden African American participation in STEM fields, Auguste via researching the bond between STEM learning and STEM identities and Hyater-Adams through using performing arts and digital media to attract underrepresented students; Stangl examined how to make media and information systems more accessible for people who are blind or visually impaired; Hyunjoo Oh created design tools that enable children to design and build mechanical systems, drawing children in by making those systems playful and engaging; and Brittany Kos researched the barriers women and non-binary students face in participating in hackathons.

For her dissertation defense, Hyater-Adams began by reading a poem about her personal struggle to balance her passion for both the arts and physics while simultaneously two dancers interpreted and performed her story.

“I have always been a scientist and an artist, and that intersection has always been important to me,” Hyater-Adams said.

Auguste plans to use what she learned from her doctoral research to encourage African American youth to enter STEM fields. Auguste worked with families to monitor air quality with sensors to identify possible triggers of asthma attacks and other health issues. 

“While the PhD is wonderful, my successful outcome will be reaching the kids,” Auguste says. “ I want to reach them by the thousands.”

Off

On Aug. 31, ATLAS doctoral student HyunJoo Oh successfully defended her dissertation, “Computational Design Tools and Techniques for Paper Mechatronics,” which is focused on design tools and techniques for combining mechanical, electrical and computational components with paper crafting. The tools enable young learners and those who lack a background in mechanical engineering to design and build mechanical toys from paper and other everyday objects.

HyunJoo Oh

Oh’s web-based software system () helps beginners design mechanical movements by simulating component parameters, such as the sizes of gears and linkages, and then outputs paper parts using a desktop laser or razor cutter.  Paper was used to demonstrate the technique because it is lightweight, malleable, aesthetically appealing and inexpensive, and it can be worked with simple craft tools.

“Designing mechanical models requires understanding mechanical movements, visualizing relationships between component mechanisms and accurately predicting the behavior of mechanical systems,” said Mark Gross, ATLAS director and professor of computer science, who co-advised Oh with Michael Eisenberg, professor of computer science. “These skills are challenging even for experienced designers, and they are absent in novices.”

Oh’s research included three areas: building visionary paper mechatronic models by combining papercrafting with mechanical, electrical, and computational components; developing the tools and techniques that support novices to explore paper mechatronics; and conducting workshops where children, teachers and other novices create their own paper mechatronics using the tools and techniques.

In the workshops, participants designed and built their own mechanical movements, embedded servomotors with microcontrollers, and programmed the movements and adapted them to a variety of creations, despite having no relevant technical backgrounds. Throughout the workshop, they progressively achieved an advanced level of skill and understanding about mechanical movements, embedded-electronics and computing.The project furthers a style of engineering education that is both hands-on and  interdisciplinary, integrating elements of programming, electronics, and mechanical design. Crucial to Oh’s objectives, it is also playful and respectful of children's creativity.

“Exploratory construction can be a compelling means to promote creativity,” said Oh. “Some kids are more interested in art, some are more interested in engineering, some in programming. They start with their interest and widen their scope in an interdisciplinary medium, and while building them, they personalize and solidify learning with their stories.”

Oh gives the example of children building a bird from cardboard. “Regardless of age, when they develop their specific type of bird, they think of the bird’s personalities and situation and why it moves in certain ways.”

Oh holds two master’s degrees: one from Carnegie Mellon University in entertainment technology, and one in Media Interaction Design from Ewha Womans University, South Korea. In November, Oh moves to Atlanta, Georgia, to become an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology for a joint appointment in the Schools of Industrial Design and Interactive Computing. She plans to continue her paper mechatronic project while expanding into other related areas. [video:https://vimeo.com/198446596]

Off

Off

ATLAS doctoral student Hyunjoo Oh has been chosen as a member of the Spring 2017 cohort at  program in San Francisco. The selective and prestigious program gives artists, makers and fabricators the opportunity to work in the program’s digital fabrication workshops at Autodesk.

Oh is one of the 22 successful applicants from across the country and world. The four-month program supports the artists with a $2,000-per-month stipend plus a budget for project supplies.

“It is a great opportunity for me, not only to use leading edge fabrication machines, but also to get to know and join an amazing community where diverse, talented people work and support each other,” said Oh, who will be with Autodesk through May.

During the program, artists create projects to share them with the Pier 9 community. During her residency, Oh plans to explore 3D paper printing—using a 3D printer to build objects out of cut-and-glued sheets of paper—as another way to approach computationally enhanced papercrafting.

This work aligns with her doctoral research at ATLAS, where she’s developing a computational design tool, PaperMech, and prototyping techniques for integrating papercraft with mechanical, electrical and digital components. The goal of PaperMech is to encourage novices to design machines using her digital tools provided, choosing and adapting the motion and mechanism, then printing out the machine and building a prototype, complete with gears, wheels, motors and controllers.

Oh holds two master’s degrees: one from Carnegie Mellon University in entertainment technology and one in Media Interaction Design from Ewha Womans University in South Korea. 

She is co-advised by Mark D Gross, professor of computer science and director of the ATLAS Institute, and Mike Eisenberg, professor of computer science.

Off