Please note: This seminar will take place in DC 1304.
Ritik Batra, PhD student, Information Science Department
Cornell Tech, New York City
Contemporary manufacturing processes are deeply unsustainable, with over 50% of raw materials wasted due to resource-intensive material pre-processing. Computer-Aided Design (CAD) tools play a central role in these processes as they enable precise modeling and planning, but they lack an acknowledgement of the irregularities and adaptability required when working with real-world, unprocessed materials.
My work investigates the question: How can materials constrain computational design tools for manufacturing? Inspired by expert craft workflows that emphasize collaborating with rather than against materials, I introduce a novel paradigm called “Materials-Driven CAD” that constrains fabrication workflows and computational tools to material properties and behaviors. In this talk, I’ll share some of my recent work in characterizing and capturing improvisational patterns within craft workflows and discuss my broader research agenda towards more adaptive and less wasteful manufacturing processes.
Bio: Ritik Batra is a rising third-year PhD student in the Information Science Department of Cornell Tech in New York City, where he is co-advised by Thijs Roumen and Steven Jackson. His work draws on both qualitative and quantitative research methods to design frameworks and develop computational tools that support fabrication workflows that are adaptive to real-world materials and contexts.
He is currently an intern at Autodesk Research working on the HCI & Visualization team and he previously worked on Stripe’s one-click checkout user experience as a software engineer after receiving his BS in EE/CS from UC Berkeley.
For more information, visit his website.