Hybrid Skins are an emerging form of conformable interface situated at all scales of the human experience. These conformable interfaces are hybrid in their integration of technological function with social and cultural perspectives, blending historical craft with miniaturized robotics, machines, and materials in their development. The resulting skins also serve social, cultural, and technological purposes while supporting the construction of individual identities. This seminar examines recent work from the Hybrid Body Lab in designing Hybrid Skins through under-explored approaches of textile robotics, bio-fluid sensing, modular flexible electronics, and sustainable materials exploration. With their seamless and conformable form factor, Hybrid Skins afford unprecedented intimacy to the human experience and an opportunity for us to carefully rethink and redesign how our relationship with technology can, should (or should not) be. By blending engineering, design, and committed engagement with diverse communities, Kao and her lab’s research aims to foster inclusive design for future wearable technology that can celebrate (instead of constrict) the diversity of the human experience.
| 11:45am - 12:15pm: | Food and community socializing. |
| 12:15pm - 1:15pm: | Presentation with Q&A. Available hybrid via Zoom. |
| 1:30pm - 2:15pm: | Student meeting with speaker, held in CSE2/Gates 371. Students will walk to this from the seminar. |
Dr. Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao is an assistant professor at Cornell University. She directs the Hybrid Body Lab, which focuses on integrating cultural and social perspectives into the design of on-body interfaces. Through her research, she aims to foster inclusive designs for soft wearable technologies, like smart tattoos and textiles and develops novel digital fabrication methods. Kao has received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award and multiple Honorable Mention/Best Paper Awards in top-tier Computer Science conferences (ACM CHI, UIST, ISWC and DIS), and media coverage from Forbes, CNN, TIME Magazine, WIRED, and VOGUE. Her work has been showcased internationally, including at the Pompidou Centre in Paris and New York Fashion Week, earning multiple design awards. Kao holds a Ph.D. from MIT Media Lab.