Democratizing Digital Fabrication

Abstract: The hardware for digital fabrication is now available to anyone with a credit card and access to a Home Depot, but 3D printing, laser cutting, and CNC milling are still largely only accessible to experts. In this talk, I will discuss our work in the Future Everyday Technology Research Lab around understanding and overcoming the barriers to novice use of digital fabrication tools.

Bio: Dr. Daniel Ashbrook is an Assistant Professor in the Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He earned his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology and worked at Nokia Research and Samsung before returning to academia. He founded and directs the Future Everday Technology Research Lab (FETLab). His research focuses on new interaction techniques, devices, and applications, most recently for helping non-experts more easily understand and use digital fabrication technology. He also conducts research into non-obtrusive interaction techniques for wearable and mobile computing devices. His website can be found at http://fetlab.rit.edu/dan.