Valkyrie A. Savage

I study physical input devices as the ultimate bridge between humans and computers. My work pushes for a world where such devices, whether explicitly-designed or ad hoc, fit a specific user’s needs for a particular time, place, and task, culminating in deeply custom interfaces designed, fabricated, or simply picked up to solve a problem. My thesis research, supervised by Björn Hartmann, focused on digital fabrication and how we can leverage its potential to make prototyping input devices a faster and easier process: this culminated in my dissertation, entitled “Fabbed to Sense: Integrated Design of Geometry and Sensing for Interactive Objects.” A video of my thesis presentation is also available online.

More recently, at Tactual Labs I measured human anatomy to richly sense user interactions with existing objects, removing the need for dedicated input devices (under submission). Next, I plan to merge these two approaches and examine how sensing the body and its dynamic capabilities can enhance design of input devices, as well as to expand into task-sensitive sensing—fitting devices to not only their user but their user’s task—and design support—enabling fluid collaboration around digital designs for interactive physical objects.

In the course of doing my own research, I supervised research projects for interns, Masters students, and undergraduates. I also taught UC Berkeley’s Introduction to User Interface Design course in Summer 2015 and redesigned the curriculum to incorporate a new technology, replace roughly half the lectures with a studio component, and fit with the summer session timeline.