Published: July 10, 2019

Researchers from ATLAS Institute'sTHING, ACME and Unstable Design labs took home "Best Paper" and "Best Pictorial" awards atthe ACM conference onDesigning Interactive Systems (DIS '19), held in San Diego, June 23-28. ATLAS faculty and students also contributedfourresearch presentations, including one by undergraduate researcherDZڱ, an engineering student majoring in Technology, Arts & Media who was previously chosen as a Grace Hopper Research Scholar.

DISis aninternational 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, designԻ practice.

Ryo presents Morphio

ATLAS research presented at DIS '19:

  • "MorphIO: Entirely Soft Sensing and Actuation Modules for Programming Shape Changes through Tangible Interaction," authored byRyo Suzuki and researchers from Keio University and The University of Tokyo in Japan, won aDIS '19 "Best Paper" award. Suzuki, an ATLAS affiliated PhD student,presented theresearch 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 codefrom a digital screen to objects, MorphIO’s hardware enablesusers to program behaviors using motion-capture data gathered from physical movement and interactions. It alsoallowsusers to construct various shapes and synthesize multiple recorded motions to achieve complex movements, such as bending, grippingԻ walking.
  • ATLAS PhD students Peter GyoryԻ Clement Zheng'sHOT 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'sGame 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 byJosephine KlefekerԻLaura 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 researchwas inspired by Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) media, where gentle repetitive sounds, such aslistening to a whispering voice or the sounds ofpagesturning,elicit,for some, relaxing tingling sensations at the back of the skullthat movedown 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 worklooks at whether theaesthetics of ASMR media can inspire the design of technology that provokes reflective thoughts and relaxation.
  • “,” authored byClement Zheng,HyunJoo Oh,Laura Devendorf, andEllen Yi-Luen Do,wonthe "Best Pictorial" award at DIS '19. Lead author, Zheng, an ATLAS PhD student, presented theresearch during the DIS '19 Deformable and Novel Materials track. This inquiry into carbon-coated paper and kirigami structures involvedinvestigatingtwo variations of thepaper and their electrical, hapticԻ visual aspects when shaped into 3Dforms through cutting, folding and bending. Three applications that showcase the possibilities of this material for tangible interaction design were proposed. Researchers also used apictorial format of working design schematics soothers could explore on their own.