Example of paper marker in action

ACME Lab Champions Humble Materials for Innovative Human-Computer Interactions at CHI 2023

May 22, 2023

Over the years, the computer-human interaction field has seen many trends. For a time, gesture and pen-based interactions were key, then with the rising ubiquity of smartphones came a focus on haptic technologies. Now according to Ellen Do, ATLAS ACME Lab director, “material exploration” was the theme of the day...

chi 2023 logo

CHI 2023 features works by 19 ATLAS community members

April 25, 2023

We are happy to announce that 19 members of the ATLAS community contributed to work accepted for the 2023 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, taking place in Hamburg, Germany, April 23–28. Accepting fewer than 25 percent of submissions, CHI is the premier international conference on human-computer...

tiny cardboard arcade game on table

One person’s trash can become another’s arcade game

Sept. 23, 2022

In keeping with the spirit of its name, a team at the University of Colorado Boulder’s ACME Lab has created an ‘outlandish’ platform for DIYers to craft Tinycade games and setups.

Lit up paper box that says, "ATLAS."

Ruhan Yang passes preliminary exam

Aug. 23, 2022

ATLAS PhD Student Ruhan Yang passed her preliminary exam on August 4. Her work on her dissertation, "Paper Robot Building Kits: Present and Future," is overseen by Professor Ellen Do, Professor Mark Gross and Assistant Professor Daniel Leithinger.

two cardboard tinycades side by side

How to turn throwaway cardboard into a DIY arcade game

July 22, 2022

Like many people across Colorado, Peter Gyory spent the height of the COVID-19 pandemic sitting at home with nothing to do. Then the ATLAS-based PhD candidate and game designer looked around his apartment: “I was surrounded by cardboard. I thought: ‘How could I make a game out of that?’”

Two hands  playing on tinycade cardboard consoles

ACM C&C'22: Creating Platforms to Support Craft and Creativity in Game Controller Design

June 20, 2022

ATLAS PhD student Peter Gyory's research aims to bridge the gap between game developers and Alt Controls through the use of everyday materials and crafting techniques.

Toolkit made from cardboard to foster children’s data visualization literacy

ACM C&C'22: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Data and Materiality 

June 20, 2022

In this paper, ATLAS PhD student Sandra Bae discusses the current challenges of data physicalization and addresses three areas where data physicalization can aid other research thrusts: broadening participation, supporting analytics and promoting creative expression. The paper exemplifies each approach through the lens of the author’s work.

Two hands  playing on tinycade cardboard consoles

ACM C&C'22: Build Your Own Arcade Machine with Tinycade

June 20, 2022

Tinycade is a platform designed to help game designers build their own mini arcade games by hand. With this platform, one can craft functioning game controllers out of everyday materials such as cardboard and toothpicks. In this pictorial, the authors discuss the functionality of Tinycade and showcase three games that demonstrate the variety of controls possible with this platform.

cardboard controls for gaming

ACME LAB @ ACM C&C

June 2, 2022

Researchers from ATLAS Institute’s ACME Lab will present one pictorial and two Graduate Student Symposium papers at the 14th ACM Creativity & Cognition (C&C), which will take place June 20-23 in Venice, Italy. The theme of this year's conference is "Creativity, Craft and Design."

combined portrait shots of carson bruns and ellen do

Ellen Yi-Luen Do and Carson Bruns win graduate school awards for outstanding mentorship

May 4, 2022

Praised by their graduate students for their scientific competence, work ethic, creativity and compassion, two ATLAS professors received Outstanding Faculty Mentor awards from CU Boulder’s Graduate School on May 3, an honor bestowed this year on only 18 faculty members campus-wide.

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