Although many software libraries and hardware modules support reading data from sensors, makers of interactive systems often struggle to extract higher-level information from raw sensor data. Available general-purpose machine learning (ML) libraries remain difficult to use for non-experts. Prior research has sought to bridge this gap through domain-specific user interfaces for particular types of sensors or algorithms. Our ESP (Example-based Sensor Prediction) system introduces a more general approach in which interactive visualizations and control interfaces are dynamically generated from augmented code examples written by experts. ESP's augmented examples allow experts to write logic that guides makers through important steps such as sensor calibration, parameter tuning, and assessing signal quality and classification performance. Writing augmented examples requires additional effort. ESP leverages a fundamental dynamic of online communities: experts are often willing to invest such effort to teach and train novices. Thus support for particular sensing domains does not have to be hard-wired a priori by system authors, but can be provided later by its community of users. We illustrate ESP's flexibility by detailing pipelines for four distinct sensors and classification algorithms. We validated the usability and flexibility of our example-based approach through a one-day workshop with 11 participants.

The Maker movement has encouraged more people to start working with electronics and embedded processors. A key challenge in developing and debugging custom embedded systems is understanding their behavior, particularly at the boundary between hardware and software. Existing tools such as step debuggers and logic analyzers only focus on software or hardware, respectively. This paper presents a new development environment designed to illuminate the boundary between embedded code and circuits. Bifröst automatically instruments and captures the progress of the user's code, variable values, and the electrical and bus activity occurring at the interface between the processor and the circuit it operates in. This data is displayed in a linked visualization that allows navigation through time and program execution, enabling comparisons between variables in code and signals in circuits. Automatic checks can detect low-level hardware configuration and protocol issues, while user-authored checks can test particular application semantics. In an exploratory study with ten participants, we investigated how Bifröst influences debugging workflows.

This paper explores personal fabrication as a means of engaging new audiences in the creation of electronic devices, which play an ever-increasing role in our lives but which most people have little involvement in creating. We describe a six-session workshop in which eight participants made wifi-connected devices through the design and fabrication of custom printed circuit boards. We explore the implications of using components and processes analogous to those in commercial products, as opposed to the limited set of higher-level building blocks found in toolkits for hobbyist electronics. We highlight unique advantages and challenges of a personal fabrication approach. We explore the role of attitudes in identifying a suitable audience for these activities. We discuss insights into commercial electronic products offered by personal fabrication and explore its role in a world of mass-produced electronic devices. Finally, we suggest opportunities for future tools and technologies.

The recent proliferation of easy to use electronic components and toolkits has introduced a large number of novices to designing and building electronic projects. Nevertheless, debugging circuits remains a difficult and time-consuming task. This paper presents a novel debugging tool for electronic design projects, the Toastboard, that aims to reduce debugging time by improving upon the standard paradigm of point-wise circuit measurements. Ubiquitous instrumentation allows for immediate visualization of an entire breadboard's state, meaning users can diagnose problems based on a wealth of data instead of having to form a single hypothesis and plan before taking a measurement. Basic connectivity information is displayed visually on the circuit itself and quantitative data is displayed on the accompanying web interface. Software-based testing functions further lower the expertise threshold for efficient debugging by diagnosing classes of circuit errors automatically. In an informal study, participants found the detailed, pervasive, and context-rich data from our tool helpful and potentially time-saving.

This paper describes our do-it-yourself cellphone and our use of it to investigate the possibilities and limits of high-tech DIY practice. We describe our autobiographical approach -- making the phone and using it in our daily lives -- and our work disseminating the cellphone in workshops and online. This informs a discussion of the implications of technology for DIY practice. We suggest an understanding of DIY as an individual's ability to combine existing technologies into a desired product, enabled and limited by ecosystems of industrial actors and individuals. We distinguish different pathways into high-tech DIY practice, consider the relationship between prototyping and production, and discuss the effect of technology on DIY's relevance and tools, and on notions of transparency. We conclude by reflecting on the relationship between DIY and empowerment: the extent to which making devices gives people control over the technology in their lives.

This paper describes my doctoral research into the possibilities that digital fabrication offers for the individual design and production of electronic devices. Research questions relate to the possibilities for the devices themselves and their relationship to people's skills interests. The paper discusses four overall approaches: product design explorations, do-it-yourself activities, custom software tools, and studying communities. Three completed case studies -- a radio, speakers, and a mouse -- provide insight into the design possibilities and their implications for various groups. Future work will explore further aspects of this ecosystem, including more complex devices, more in-depth investigation of people, and community surveys.

Embedded programming is typically made accessible through modular electronics toolkits. In this paper, we explore an alternative approach, combining microcontrollers with craft materials and processes as a means of bringing new groups of people and skills to technology production. We have developed simple and robust techniques for drawing circuits with conductive ink on paper, enabling off-the-shelf electronic components to be embedded directly into interactive artifacts. We have also developed an set of hardware and software tools -- an instance of what we call an "untoolkit" -- to provide an accessible toolchain for the programming of microcontrollers. We evaluated our techniques in a number of workshops, one of which is detailed in the paper. Four broader themes emerge: accessibility and appeal, the integration of craft and technology, microcontrollers vs. electronic toolkits, and the relationship between programming and physical artifacts. We also expand more generally on the idea of an untoolkit, offering a definition and some design principles, as well as suggest potential areas of future research.

This paper investigates the use of digital fabrication for the individual production and customization of electronic devices. We present two products -- a pair of speakers with laser-cut parts and a computer mouse with a 3D-printed enclosure -- and describe their making and modification by workshop participants. The speakers target a general audience, engaging a diversity of skills and backgrounds. The mouse aims at designers, exploring the application of 3D modeling skills to the production of electronic devices. We use the case studies to discuss general implications of digital fabrication for technology production and education: enabling collaboration and iteration through open-source hardware, enhancing the products of educational technologies and experiences, and increasing the diversity of and personal connections to electronic products. The case studies also suggest opportunities for further research into tools, materials, and people.

This paper looks at collaboration in open-source hardware: physical goods whose digital design files are shared for others to make or modify. Through research into nine variations on the Arduino Duemilanove (an electronic circuit board) and interviews with their developers, we explore the process and outcome of open-source hardware development. We find a structure that differs substantially from that of most open-source software projects, involving many small-scale collaborations rather than a centralized process. We discuss three possible reasons for this structure: differing component selections, the investment required for prototyping, and the lack of software collaboration tools.

In this paper we discuss the role of open-source hardware in supporting creativity. We use the case study of an open-source FM radio and explore the modes of creation that emerged from a workshop in which participants modified and produced the design: making, personalizing, designing, engineering, and experimenting. We contrast open-source hardware with other approaches to supporting creativity and explore some of its unique challenges and opportunities.

This paper explores the ways in which digital fabrication allows for the small-scale manufacture and individual customization of consumer electronic products. We present Fab FM, an open-source FM radio that integrates an electronic circuit board, laser-cut wood, and fabric. We describe a workshop in which participants designed and built their own Fab FM variants, modifying the form, materials, and behavior of the radio. Drawing from this experience, we discuss three themes: the issues involved in working across design domains, the ways in which design can serve as source code, and the difference between open- source and hackable. We present potential business models for Fab FM, and discuss the possibilities that digital fabrication offers for a more diverse landscape of high-tech products.

The Living Wall project explores the construction and application of interactive wallpaper. Using conductive, resistive, and magnetic paints we produced wallpaper that enables us to create dynamic, reconfigurable, programmable spaces. The wallpaper consists of circuitry that is painted onto a sheet of paper and a set of electronic modules that are attached to it with magnets. The wallpaper can be used for a multitude of functional and fanciful applications involving lighting, environmental sensing, appliance control, and ambient information display.

Programming microcontrollers for tangible interfaces can be easier and more accessible than it is now, empowering a broader audience to participate. The first part of this studio will introduce participants to Scratch for Arduino, a graphical programming language for controlling the Arduino hardware platform. The participants will form small groups to create projects using the Arduino in combination with a kit of input and output devices, and program their creations' behavior using Scratch for Arduino. In the second part of the studio, participants will have a chance to get under the hood of the Scratch for Arduino language and its underlying blocks engine, modifying it or extending it to work with other tangible kits. We will close with a discussion about participants' experiences using and modifying Scratch for Arduino and the blocks engine, comparing them to other environments and considering possibilities for future work and collaborations.