Abstract:

Over the last decade, 3D printing has emerged as one of the most promising and affordable technologies for personal fabrication. The technology enables people to create a wide range of objects from digital designs. However, most consumer 3D printers still only produce objects that are made of a single material—rigid plastic—greatly limiting what we can make with these machines.

In my work, I have investigated materials with which we regularly have interactions (e.g., the textiles that we wear daily); those that we can readily obtain (e.g., in nature); and even those that we can make in a kitchen at home as inputs and outputs for digital fabrication. By leveraging these so-called "everyday materials", I have developed new techniques and machines that reshape what we can create with 3D printing. From soft sensors and water-responsive interfaces to objects that are designed to biodegrade, this talk covers my work in this space and demonstrates how using the lens of everyday materials can extend the capabilities of 3D printing for personal fabrication, and offer new design possibilities with and beyond rigid plastic.

Bio:

Dr. Michael Rivera (https://www.colorado.edu/atlas/michael-rivera) works as a Computing Innovation Fellow and Post-Doctoral Researcher at the ATLAS Institute of the University of Colorado Boulder. In January 2023, he will join ATLAS and the Department of Computer Science as an Assistant Professor. His research interests span across human-computer interaction, digital fabrication, materials science, and more recently, environmental sustainability. He has published award-winning papers on digital fabrication processes and interactive systems at premier HCI venues including ACM CHI, UIST, DIS, and IMWUT. His work has been honored with a CRA/CCC Computing Innovation Fellowship, a Google - CMD-IT LEAP Alliance Fellowship, an Adobe Research Fellowship Honorable Mention, and a Xerox Technical Minority Scholarship. He earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in Human-Computer Interaction at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. Before Carnegie Mellon, he completed a M.S.E in Computer Graphics and Game Technology, and a B.S.E in Digital Media Design at the University of Pennsylvania. https://mikeriv.com/