Machine Agency

Human Centered Design and Engineering, University of Washington

Our work harnesses the precision of machines for the creativity of individuals.

We are recruiting PhD students and postdocs! Read more about getting involved with Machine Agency.

Research

A MIDI controller connected to a 3D printer for interactive control.

Playing the Print & It's Not The Shape, It's The Settings

We interactively tune machine settings using MIDI controllers and consider strategies to document the resulting outcomes.

Project Page Extended Abstract Paper

Fungibot

We built Fungibot, a system for 3D printing and growing mycelium-based biocomposite that self-fuses.

Project Page Paper

KnitScape II

We extended the original KnitScape editor so instruction charts are rasterized from layered vector primitives.

Project Page Paper

KnitScape I

We built a browser-based tool for exploring the surprising design space of slip and tuck colorwork using a live yarn-level simulation.

Project Page Paper

three images overlaid with images of computational notebooks; fltr CAD, a milling machine, and a milled wooden propellor

Tandem: Reproducible Digital Fabrication Workflows as Multimodal Programs

Tandem is a software library that lets a fabricator implement an end-to-end fabrication workflow as a computational notebook program that others can run to physically reproduce the workflow.

Project Page Paper

Technical Mentality

We present four principles for HCI research and practice based on Simondon's concept of technical mentality.

Paper Presentation

A system for automated imaging and manipulation of duckweed.

The Duckbot

We built custom tools and software to automate imaging and manipulation of duckweed for plant biology experiments.

Project Page Paper

A dataflow programming environment with a colorful cellular automata.

Dynamic Toolchains

We built an event-driven dataflow environment to scaffold development of new digital fabrication workflows.

Project Page Paper

3D Printers Don’t Fix Themselves

We study how practitioners maintain their FFF 3D printers in the home and find that maintenance is core to our participants' printing practice.

Paper

Vespidae

We built a framework in Rhino and Grasshopper to dynamically develop digital fabrication workflows for exploring unconventional workflows.

Project Page Paper Source Code

Forking a Sketch

We pair network analysis with qualitative techniques to capture high-level patterns and meaningful details about how creative coders remix sketches.

Paper

Doufu, Rice Wine, and 面饼

We investigate how to support the connections between precision and cultural knowledge in cooking.

Project Page Paper Presentation

Imprimer

We show how to use computational notebooks to unlock new ways of working with CNC mills.

Paper Code Teaser Presentation

a tabletop laboratory automation machine

Pathways to Open-Source Hardware for Laboratory Automation

Bringing together a community of scientists to collaborate on ways of sharing, vetting, and maintaining open source hardware for science and engineering research.

Website NSF Award

Verso

Exploratory digital fabrication often involves low-level machine programming, to which Verso adds within-code GUIs and expressive toolpath visualization.

Paper

example use of automation in community biolabs to create images using bacteria.

Studying Community Biolabs

From a qualitative study of community biolabs, we discuss how members are creating new approaches to laboratory biology with implications for systems that support non-traditional settings for scientific practice.

Paper Teaser Presentation

collage of unconventional 3D prints created with our system.

p5.fab

A system for controlling digital fabrication machines from the creative coding environment p5.js, informed by insights into 3D printing practice.

Paper Teaser Presentation Code

Direct control of a machine (right) from Rhino/Grasshopper (left)

Interactive Digital Fabrication Machine Control Directly Within a CAD Environment

Enabling control of digital fabrication machines from a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) environment, including interactive control of toolpath geometry as well as machine parameters such as speed, acceleration, or jerk.

Paper

Taxon

A language that encodes machines, workflows, and rules of thumb as programs. Taxon applies the safety and extensibility of programming to hands-on making.

Paper Short Talk Long Talk Code

Collage of plotted artwork shared with the PlotterTwitter hashtag.

Studying #PlotterTwitter

We conducted a qualitative study of #PlotterTwitter and found that makers champion creative exploration of materials over a predictable series of steps.

Project Page Paper Video

collage of student projects from online digital fabrication courses

Teaching Digital Fabrication Online

Through interviews, we found that learning with hobbyist equipment and online social networks could emulate using industrial equipment in shared workshops.

Paper Video