ATLAS researchers highlight the power of creativity to drive transformation
The conference, at University of the Arts London, features the themeCreativity for Change, which “responds to the rapid pace of change in our world and emphasizes the power of creativity in driving positive transformations.”
The ATLAS Institute has a strong presence at this year’s gathering, with over a dozen affiliated researchers showcasing their work, highlighting how much of our research bridges engineering with creativity and learning.
The projects here feature tools and techniques to empower people to express themselves, interact with the world more intuitively, and engage with their thoughts and emotions.
Poster
Daniel Llamas Maldonado, Juan Alfonso Salazar Torres,Grace Leslie,Thiago Rossi Roque
Neurodivergent children often disengage from therapeutic technologies due to sensory sensitivities and infrastructural constraints. This paper presents Superheroe, a participatory biofeedback system co-designed with a child with autism diagnosis in a low/middle-income country (LMIC). The system integrates multimodal biosignals, including PPG-derived heart rate, respiration, GSR, and EEG. These are captured via a lightweight, custom-garment wearable developed through photogrammetry and additive manufacturing.
Real-time digital signal processing (including filtering and peak estimation) supports robust proportional-control biofeedback. Respiration modulates rhythmic structure, while heart rate influences probabilistic melodic generation via Markov-chain 91Ҹ. A pictorial self-report tool featuring a personalized superhero avatar supports child-led communication. Preliminary sessions demonstrated increased engagement and observable autonomic changes. While limited to one participant, this pilot study does not aim to establish clinical efficacy. Instead, provides empirical and design insights toward a longitudinal research agenda focused on accessible, participatory biofeedback systems for neurodivergent users in resource-constrained settings.
Pictorials
Mimi Shalf,Celeste Moreno,Ronni Hayden,Ricarose Roque
[Winner: Best Pictorial]
Zines, with their roots in critical feminist ideology, counter-culture identity expression, and movements of resistance, are showing promise as one way for HCI researchers to share their research in an accessible, engaging way. In this pictorial we leverage zines as a medium for collective discourse towards what bell hooks calls a marginal “space for radical openness”. We describe insights from a series of workshops with informal educators using a zine we developed called “What Equity Means to Me.” We found three design principles of our zine and workshop – a DIY aesthetic, open-ended pages, and stories – scaffolded a movement point, or a marginal space where personal expression, varied knowledge, and collective reflection support educators to reflect, dream, and move past challenges in their equity work. From our findings, we see the potential for zines as an interactive format for scaffolding spaces where communities can dream of alternatives outside of existing systems.
Zine infographic designed my Mimi Shalf
Krithik Ranjan,Peter Gyory,Ellen Yi-Luen Do, Clement Zheng
Physical computing engages learners in computational thinking through building interest-driven physical interactive projects. However, traditional electronic approaches require deep understanding of circuits and embedded systems — a challenge for young learners before meaningful engagement with computational concepts. This pictorial demonstrates an alternative, computer vision (CV) approach using fiducial markers and craft materials, through a workshop model where learners design custom controllers for video games. With learner stories from workshops with learners aged 10-15, and emerging themes of computational, material, and social moments, we illustrate how CV-driven physical computing can be an effective, low-barrier, introduction to computing that preserves the creative learning benefits of physical computing.
Examples of physical computing devices
David Hunter,Anika Mahajan, Daniel Leithinger,Ellen Yi-Luen Do
Tangible User Interfaces (TUI) provide exciting means for visitors to engage with exhibits at institutions such as museums and science centers. However, TUIs are resource-demanding making them difficult to implement and maintain, limiting their suitability for institutions with less staff and smaller budgets. We investigated the idea of “Bounded TUIs”, where tokens are physically attached to constraints/surfaces to prevent loss of artifacts and mess. We document how a parametric toolkit emerged from a drawing-led design process for a live design brief. By decoding drawings and encoding as parameters, this toolkit can be used as a common language for collaborative teams to support the design of Bounded TUIs, including methods for creating new TUIs and finding gaps between existing TUI designs through mapping and morphing parameters. We provide examples and insights from participant filled-in toolkits from two workshops in a professional and an education setting.
Examples of how tangible user interfaces could be used in museum exhibitions