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SCOBY BREASTPLATE: SLOWLY GROWING A MICROBIAL INTERFACE

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TEI ‘23, February 26-March 1, 2023, Warsaw, Poland
© 2023 Copyright is held by the owner/author(s).
ACM ISBN 978-1-4503-9977-7/23/02.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3569009.3572805
AUTHOR KEYWORDS


CSS CONCEPTS


ABSTRACT









INTRODUCTION
















SCOBY BREASTPLATE:
SLOWLY GROWING A MICROBIAL INTERFACE




















BIO-HCI

























































SCOBY APPLICATIONS












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

























SUSTAINABLE MAKING

























SITUATING SCOBY INTERFACES IN HCI

LIVING SCOBY



























   
  
   
   
  
   
   
NON-LIVING SCOBY















TENSILE TESTING















 

PROCESS FOR GROWING A SCOBY INTERFACE




STEP 1
STEP 2
STEP 3
STEP 4
STEP 5
STEP 6
STEP 7


















WEEK 4 - LAYER 1












WEEK 7 - LAYER 2












WEEK 10 - LAYER 3













WEEK 13 - LAYER 4
















SLOWLY GROWING AND DESIGNING THE BREASTPLATE
BREASTPLATE FABRICATION
PRINT








SHAPE






EMBED







PATTERN






PATTERNPATTERN
PRINTPRINT
EMBEDEMBED
BREASTPLATE INTERACTION SYSTEM
SENSE










CONTROL










DISPLAY




POCKET
DISPLAY
SENSE
CONTROL






















WEARING THE BREASTPLATE
  
IMPERFECTIONS












COLOR:



BUBBLES: 



TRANSFER PRINT:


YEAST FLOCCULATION:



TRANSFER PRINT
BUBBLE
YEAST FLOCCULATION





















BIODEGRADABILITY TESTING





















SUSTAINABILITY










   

















NOZZLE FOR GAS EXCHANGE
WATER CUP FOR HUMIDITY
SOIL WITH LIVING MICROBES














































FINAL THOUGHTS














ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS



SLOWNESS
 




 


 


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
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
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
 

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
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

 


 
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 
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
 
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
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
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
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

 




REFERENCES

 


 



 





 


 

 



 






 



 




 






 
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
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
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
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... Biomaterials have gained interest due to their inherent sustainability: they are derived from renewable resources (i.e., biological matter that is grown and can be regrown) and they are often biodegradable (i.e., biological matter that breaks down naturally in the environment). Popular biomaterials within HCI include algae bio-plastics [6,52,104], microbial cellulose bio-leathers [9,75,76], and mycelium bio-composites [36,43,112,117], which have been employed to create a range of applications including wearables, game controllers, menstrual products, instruments, toys, and more. In this work, we develop a 3D printable eggshell biomaterial, as seen in Figure 1. ...
... Sustainable making and unmaking practices have notably benefited from the development of new biomaterials. Our eggshell biomaterial adds to a growing library of biomaterials within HCI, which include, but is not limited to: mycelium [36,39,43,112,117], algae [6,52,80,104,123], microbial cellulose [9,75,76,78], chitosan [24,102], slime mold [64,79], gelatin [56,58], bacteria [15,41,122], and plants [19,45,101] that then take the form of bio-plastics, bio-fibers, biofoams, bio-leathers, bio-dyes, bio-composites, and bio-pastes. Such biomaterials are also highly prevalent in the Do-It-Yourself biology [54] and biodesign [73] communities, with open-source biomaterial recipes being found on sites such as Materiom [66], Fabricademy [89], and Materiability [40]. ...
... We qualitatively track how long the eggshell biomaterial takes to reach visual assimilation. To do so, we prepared a DIY setup based on ISO standard 16929 [9,33]. For our setup, we fill a container with soil sourced from one of our backyards to mimic the biodegradation conditions of our local ecology. ...
... For instance, biosensing body fluids such as saliva and sweat unlock unique interactive opportunities, providing rich insights into the human body that are difficult to achieve with other biosensing methods [31,35,41,42,46,50]. Additionally, integrating biomaterials into fabrication methods for wearable applications introduces sustainable material choices that enhance both ecological responsibility and wearer comfort [5,7,30,40]. Furthermore, explorations of the interaction between humans and biological living matter in wearable forms opens new opportunities for interspecies wearable interactions [7,12,29]. ...
... Additionally, integrating biomaterials into fabrication methods for wearable applications introduces sustainable material choices that enhance both ecological responsibility and wearer comfort [5,7,30,40]. Furthermore, explorations of the interaction between humans and biological living matter in wearable forms opens new opportunities for interspecies wearable interactions [7,12,29]. Integrating biological approaches into wearable technology enhances our understanding of the human body as a biological system while advancing sustainable fabrication practices to tackle issues such as fashion waste and electronic waste. These explorations of wearable Bio-HCI demonstrate how biological systems can be integrated into wearable computing, showcasing the expansive potential of human-computer interactions. ...
... Researchers from different backgrounds contribute to this field through diverse lenses, such as material exploration for wearable devices [7,17,27,44], the integration of new biological sensing mechanisms [35,50], generating discussions on sensing intimate fluids [13], or the utilization of living organisms as bio-digital displays [12,24]. Despite the exciting potential of these collaborations, they also present significant challenges, such as aligning vocabulary, methodologies, tools, and goals across disciplines. ...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Biological Human-Computer Interaction (Bio-HCI) investigates the dynamic relationship between humans, computers, and biological systems. There has been a growing interest in integrating biological components into wearable human-computer interactions to expand their functional capabilities, material options, and design processes. Researchers have explored novel systems such as biofluid sensing for personal health, sustainable fabrication practices using bioma-terials for creating wearables, and integrating living matter into wearable forms. However, as a rapidly growing, multidisciplinary field, Wearable Bio-HCI faces unique challenges and opportunities that demand collective efforts from a diverse group of researchers and practitioners. In this special interest group, we aim to gather researchers who are in this field or interested in integrating Bio-HCI approaches for creating novel interactive wearables. Our goal is to identify, brainstorm, and discuss challenges and opportunities that are unique to wearable Bio-HCI explorations. We aim to generate ideas on community engagement and cross-disciplinary collaboration for future research.
... urban farming, local sharing, designs that incorporate bio-materials, theories of permaculture and energy-aware computing [e.g. 1,5,45]. ...
... For example, Bell et. al. [5] suggest growing interactive designs using biomaterials and recovering internal precious metals and components before composting the design. While that might seem an extreme direction, alternatives to the current and harmful industrial design project, which instead explores possibilities within limits, are both possible and have always existed alongside mass consumption. ...
... Additionally, scholars have engaged bodily entanglements [31,33,54,65], and biomaterials such as molds and other living organisms [5-7, 51, 57]. For instance, researchers have explored lichens [22], kombucha SCOBYs [6,7,54], algae [10], and creating new biomaterials, such as alganyl [5]. Researchers have also recently created a Mold 3D Printer, which creates "living artworks" by injecting molds into a growth medium [57]. ...
Conference Paper
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Each new material developed opens a broader pallet of aesthetic and functional possibilities for designers. This paper introduces DIS to biofoam, a material that is water-soluble, biodegradable, and can be made conductive. We describe the material in detail: the process of making the material from scratch, the material’s fabrication into forms with hand-craft techniques, and present two HCI specific applications of the biofoam. The biofoam can be cooked, molded, layered, extruded, dissolved, or recooked opening up possibilities to consider the entire life cycle of the material in the design process. We contribute design considerations to allow designers to “tune” the biofoam to the desired quality, as well as a characterization of many aspects of the biofoam such as compression, spring back time, water permeability, and electrical conductivity. Finally, we discuss the unique opportunities this material and its life cycle bring to the design and HCI communities.
Article
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Human-Biology Interaction (HBI) is a field that aims to provide first-hand experience with living matter and the modern life-sciences to the lay public. Advances in optical, bioengineering, and digital technologies as well as interaction design now also enable real and direct experiences at the microscale, such as with living cells and molecules, motivating the sub-field of “micro-HBI.” This is distinct from simulating any biological processes. There is a significant need for HBI as new educational modalities are required to enable all strata of society to become informed about new technologies and biology in general, as we face challenges like global pandemics, environmental loss, and species extinctions. Here we review this field in order to provide a jump-off point for future work and to bring stakeholder from different disciplines together. By now, the field has explored and demonstrated many such interactive systems, the use of different microorganisms, new interaction design principles, and versatile applications, such as museum exhibits, biotic games, educational cloud labs, citizen science platforms, and hands-on do-it-yourself (DIY) Bio maker activities. We close with key open questions for the field to move forward.
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Microbe-HCI is a community whose works implicate micro-organisms in HCI. This special interest group is a venue for the first gathering of the community, offering an opportunity for networking and structured discussions. It encourages participation from both active and new researchers to microbe-HCI, with the objective of acquiring an overview of people, themes, trends, and prospective research pathways for the community.
Book
How posthumanist design enables a world in which humans share center stage with nonhumans, with whom we are entangled. Over the past forty years, designers have privileged human values such that human-centered design is seen as progressive. Yet because all that is not human has been depleted, made extinct, or put to human use, today's design contributes to the existential threat of climate change and the ongoing extinctions of other species. In Things We Could Design, Ron Wakkary argues that human-centered design is not the answer to our problems but is itself part of the problem. Drawing on philosophy, design theory, and numerous design works, he shows the way to a relational and expansive design based on humility and cohabitation. Wakkary says that design can no longer ignore its exploitation of nonhuman species and the materials we mine for and reduce to human use. Posthumanism, he argues, enables a rethinking of design that displaces the human at the center of thought and action. Weaving together posthumanist philosophies with design, he describes what he calls things—nonhumans made by designers—and calls for a commitment to design with more than human participation. Wakkary also focuses on design as “nomadic practices”—a multiplicity of intentionalities and situated knowledges that shows design to be expansive and pluralistic. He calls his overall approach “designing-with”: the practice of design in a world in which humans share center stage with nonhumans, and in which we are bound together materially, ethically, and existentially.