Arduino & Physical Computing I've taught a variety of Arduino-based workshops, including a sci-fi inspired course at MIT and RISD, a one-week intensive at the CIID Summer School, an e-textile workshop at Columbia College, and more.

This project aims to help novices make sophisticated use of sensors in interactive projects through the application of machine learning. Our ESP (Example-based Sensor Prediction) system leverages expert examples to support users in applying machine learning to a wide range of real-time sensor-based applications. By customizing the ESP interface based on specific structures in the example code, we can provide end-users with a domain-specific machine learning system while requiring only minimal effort on the part of the example author. ESP examples include specification of sensor inputs, machine learning pipelines, calibration methods, and configuration parameters, along with training data. Our desktop interface allows for experimentation with live data, streaming of predictions to other software, calibration for specific sensors, expanding or modifying the training data, and tuning of the recognition pipeline.

David A. Mellis, Ben Zhang, Audrey Leung, and Björn Hartmann. 2017. Machine Learning for Makers: Interactive Sensor Data Classification Based on Augmented Code Examples. In Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS '17). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1213-1225.

This dissertation investigates digital fabrication (of both electronic circuit boards and enclosures) as an alternative approach to DIY electronics, one that can support individuals in both making devices and using them in their daily lives. It contains two investigations. The first is a DIY cellphone, which I designed, have used in my own life, and helped others to make for themselves. The second investigation is a six-week workshop in which participants designed and made internet-connected devices. These investigations provide insights into the potential of and constraints on a personal fabrication approach to the make of everyday electronic devices.

David A. Mellis, Do-It-Yourself Devices: Personal Fabrication of Custom Electronic Products, PhD Dissertation, MIT, 2015.

Introducing novices to circuit board design and production through the creation of relevant examples, activities, and other resources. Seeks to demystify the methods by which electronic products are created and to stimulate reflection on how more people might get involved in that process.

David A. Mellis, Leah Buechley, Mitchel Resnick, and Bjoern Hartmann, 2016. "Engaging Amateurs in the Design, Fabrication, and Assembly of Electronic Devices." In Proceedings of the Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS ’16). ACM.

An exploration into the possibilities for individual construction and customization of the most ubiquitous of electronic devices, the cellphone. We investigate the implications of digital fabrication and open-source hardware for DIY practice. Research questions include:

• To what extent is it feasible for people to make the technology they use in their daily lives? What obstacles and difficulties will they encounter?
• How are devices (and the process of making them) transformed when they can be produced by the people who will be using them?
• How can we combine the flexibility of quick prototyping processes with the reproducibility and robustness of finished products?
• Who will be interested in making their own devices? Why? How can it relate to their existing skills and interests?

David A. Mellis & Leah Buechley. 2014. Do-It-Yourself Cellphones: An Investigation into the Possibilities and Limits of High-Tech DIY. In Proceedings of the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems (CHI '14).

David A. Mellis, Case Studies in the Digital Fabrication of Open-Source Consumer Electronic Products, Master's Thesis, MIT.

David A. Mellis and Leah Buechley. 2012. Case studies in the personal fabrication of electronic products. In Proceedings of the Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '12). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 268-277.

David A. Mellis, Dana Gordon, and Leah Buechley. 2011. Fab FM: the design, making, and modification of an open-source electronic product. In Proceedings of the fifth international conference on Tangible, embedded, and embodied interaction (TEI '11).

Thesis Blog >>

Jennifer Jacobs, David Mellis, Amit Zoran, Cesar Torres, Joel Brandt, and Joshua Tanenbaum. 2016. Digital Craftsmanship: HCI Takes on Technology as an Expressive Medium. In Proceedings of the 2016 ACM Conference Companion Publication on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS '16 Companion). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 57-60.

David A. Mellis, "Do-It-Yourself Fabrication of Electronic Devices", IEEE Pervasive Computing, vol.13, no. 3, pp. 22-29, July-Sept. 2014.

Morgan G. Ames, Jeffrey Bardzell, Shaowen Bardzell, Silvia Lindtner, David A. Mellis, and Daniela K. Rosner. 2014. Making cultures: empowerment, participation, and democracy - or not?. In Proceedings of the extended abstracts of the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems (CHI EA '14).

David A. Mellis. 2013. Do-it-yourself electronic products and the people who make them. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction (TEI '13). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 357-358.

Daniel Drew, Julie L. Newcomb, William McGrath, Filip Maksimovic, David Mellis, and Björn Hartmann. 2016. The Toastboard: Ubiquitous Instrumentation and Automated Checking of Breadboarded Circuits. In Proceedings of the 29th Annual Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST '16). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 677-686.

David A. Mellis, Sam Jacoby, Leah Buechley, Hannah Perner-Wilson, and Jie Qi. 2013. Microcontrollers as material: crafting circuits with paper, conductive ink, electronic components, and an "untoolkit". In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction (TEI '13). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 83-90.

Leah Buechley, David Mellis, Hannah Perner-Wilson, Emily Lovell, and Bonifaz Kaufmann. Living wall: programmable wallpaper for interactive spaces. In Proceedings of the international conference on Multimedia (MM '10).

Eric Rosenbaum, Evelyn Eastmond, and David Mellis. 2010. Empowering programmability for tangibles. In Proceedings of the fourth international conference on Tangible, embedded, and embodied interaction (TEI '10).

Mellis, D. A., Banzi, M., Cuartielles, D., and Igoe, T. 2007. Arduino: An open electronics prototyping platform. In Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing (alt.chi) (CHI’07). ACM, New York.

Co-Founder: Arduino electronics prototyping platform

David Mellis and Leah Buechley. 2012. Collaboration in open-source hardware: third-party variations on the arduino duemilanove. In Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW '12).

David A. Mellis and Leah Buechley. 2011. Scaffolding Creativity with Open-Source Hardware. In Proceedings of the eighth internal conference on Creativity and Cognition 2011 (C&C '11).

Board Member: Open-Source Hardware Association

David Mellis, Sean Follmer, Björn Hartmann, Leah Buechley, and Mark D. Gross. 2013. FAB at CHI: digital fabrication tools, design, and community. In CHI '13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '13). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 3307-3310.

Class Work:
3D Design for Rapid Prototyping and Rendering
How To Make (Almost) Anything