two cardboard tinycades side by side

How to turn throwaway cardboard into a DIY arcade game

July 22, 2022

Like many people across Colorado, Peter Gyory spent the height of the COVID-19 pandemic sitting at home with nothing to do. Then the ATLAS-based PhD candidate and game designer looked around his apartment: “I was surrounded by cardboard. I thought: ‘How could I make a game out of that?’”

The four projects presented by ATLAS at DIS'22

ATLAS research front and center at DIS’22

June 29, 2022

Researchers from ATLAS Institute's Unstable Design, THING, Living Matter and Superhuman Computing labs presented four papers, including three that received “Honorable Mention” awards, at the ACM conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS '22).

An arm with illustrations added of different emotions, symbolizing the emotional effect of touch.

DIS'22: Exploring how designers approach emotional robotic touch

June 22, 2022

Prior psychology findings show humans can communicate distinct emotions solely through touch. In this award-winning work presented at DIS'22, THING Lab researchers hypothesize that similar effects might also be apply to robotic touch.

Biofoam

DIS'22: Living Matter and Unstable Design labs introduce biofoam

June 21, 2022

Exploring biofoam as a Material for Tangible Interaction, authored by Eldy S. Lazaro Vasquez, Netta Ofer, Shanel Wu, Mary Etta West, Mirela Alistar and Laura Devendorf introduced the DIS audience to biofoam, a water soluble and biodegradable material that can be made conductive.

Felt

DIS'22: An Introduction to Weave Structure for HCI

June 21, 2022

“An Introduction to Weave Structure for HCI: A How-to and Reflection on Modes of Exchange,” authored by Assistant Professor Laura Devendorf, director of the Unstable Design Lab, Sasha De Koninck, an ATLAS-affiliated PhD candidate, and Etta Sandry, weaver-in-residence, received a “Best Pictorial Honorable Mention” award at the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS '22).

Knitted bubble probe

DIS '22: Exploring Stateful Textiles with People with Disabilities

June 21, 2022

“Knitting Access: Exploring Stateful Textiles with People with Disabilities,” authored by Annika Muehlbradt (PhD Comp. Sci’22) and researchers Shaun Kane, director of the Superhuman Computing Lab, Laura Devendorf director of the Unstable Design Lab, and Gregory Whiting, associate professor of mechanical engineering, won a DIS’22 Honorable Mention award.

Two hands  playing on tinycade cardboard consoles

ACM C&C'22: Creating Platforms to Support Craft and Creativity in Game Controller Design

June 20, 2022

ATLAS PhD student Peter Gyory's research aims to bridge the gap between game developers and Alt Controls through the use of everyday materials and crafting techniques.

Toolkit made from cardboard to foster children’s data visualization literacy

ACM C&C'22: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Data and Materiality 

June 20, 2022

In this paper, ATLAS PhD student Sandra Bae discusses the current challenges of data physicalization and addresses three areas where data physicalization can aid other research thrusts: broadening participation, supporting analytics and promoting creative expression. The paper exemplifies each approach through the lens of the author’s work.

Two hands  playing on tinycade cardboard consoles

ACM C&C'22: Build Your Own Arcade Machine with Tinycade

June 20, 2022

Tinycade is a platform designed to help game designers build their own mini arcade games by hand. With this platform, one can craft functioning game controllers out of everyday materials such as cardboard and toothpicks. In this pictorial, the authors discuss the functionality of Tinycade and showcase three games that demonstrate the variety of controls possible with this platform.

representation of dashboard zero with one big red button

The challenges of user testing made "easy"

June 8, 2022

In a paper she will present later this month at the Human Computer Interaction International Conference, recent CTD graduate Elsy Meis proposes Dashboard Zero, an "easy-button" approach to user testing that is both simple and immediate.

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