Exploring mass adoption of 3-D printing

Irvine, April 19,2016 — Joshua and Karen Tanenbaum come from the world of makers, artists, storytellers and scientists. Joshua, an assistant professor with UC Irvine’s Department of Informatics, is a game designer with a background in theater. Last year, Karen joined the Department of Informatics as a project scientist. She holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy & Celtic studies, a master’s in linguistics and a doctorate in interactive arts and technology. One of their collaborative projects, Captain Chronomek (a fictional, steampunk-flavored, time-traveling superhero) was developed in 2011 to explore how fiction inspires the creation of physical, tangible props, costumes and artifacts.

Playful possibilities

The couple recently founded the Transformative Play Lab at UCI, where they will continue to direct research on how play influences cultural expression, education, political activism and entertainment. “Our research aims to develop new narrative technologies and techniques to help develop human empathy and understanding −  to create opportunities for tolerance and justice in the world by developing media forms that give people a profound experience of what it must be like to walk a day in another’s shoes,” Joshua said.

Last week at Calit2, the husband and wife team discussed its work and previewed its current Multidisciplinary Design Program (MDP) faculty-mentored design project, “Playful Fabrication: Envisioning the Future of 3-D Printing.”

“The current state of personal fabrication parallels the early days of the personal computer where the emphasis was on technical uses for calculations,“ Josh said. It wasn't until people figured out they could use a PC to make music, create documents, play games and communicate with each other that there was a compelling reason to have a computer in the home, he said.

Their MDP project invites students to imagine creative and playful uses for personal fabrication technology by developing uses for 3-D printers that will push the limits of the machines by imagining them as material communicators. Students will also attempt to determine what kind of expressive user interface is needed for creative and playful fabrication systems, as well as examine the experience of sending and receiving physical objects between printers.

Mass adoption of personal computers wasn’t a result of the technology being practical and functional, but rather because it offered the user a better way to create, communicate and play, Karen said. “New visions are needed that take into account the everyday user, and the historical interplay of technology and society.”

MDP Fellows will produce a prototype or hands-on demo that promotes ideas for the future of playful fabrication technology. Results will be documented and used to engage the public in a conversation about the potential creative and playful uses for 3-D printers and other personal fabrication technologies.

Multidisciplinary Program

Now in its sixth year, MDP is sponsored by Calit2 and UCI’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). It is open to high-achieving UCI undergraduate or graduate students in any discipline with a strong drive to pursue multidisciplinary research as part of a team with different backgrounds and skills. MDP Fellows receive hands-on collaborative research opportunities that explore the fields of energy, environment, healthcare and culture.