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Hi. Its a great honor to be here.

Today I want to interweave a couple of different ideas


around how digital manufacturing is not just changing how we make stuff, but how we
represent the stuff were going to make, and how developing multifaceted
representations of things we can make with digital manufacturing technologies is
going to be a key activity if were to sustainably and flexible create a trillion
connected devices in the next 20 years.
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Let me begin by telling you a bit about my background. Im a user experience
designer. I was one of the first professional Web designers. This year I am celebrating
professionally designing Web sites for 20 years. This is the navigation for a hot sauce
shopping site I designed in the spring of 1994.
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l've also worked on Lhe user experlence deslgn of a loL of consumer elecLronlcs
producLs from companles you've probably heard of.
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l've wrluen a couple of books based on my experlence as a deslgner. Cne ls a
cookbook of user research meLhods, and Lhe second descrlbes whaL l Lhlnk are some
of Lhe core concerns when deslgnlng neLworked compuLauonal devlces.
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l also sLarLed a couple of companles. 1he rsL, Adapuve aLh, was prlmarlly focused
on Lhe web, and wlLh Lhe second one, 1hlngM, l goL deep lnLo developlng hardware.
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l'm noL really lnvolved ln 1hlngM anymore, buL leL me plug Lhelr laLesL producL. lL's
bllnk(1), Lhe world's besL uS8 lndlcaLor llghL. CompleLely open source hardware and
soware. Llbrarles for every plauorm LhaL has a uS8 porL and lL connecLs Lo ll111.
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1oday l work for A8C, Lhe famous research lab, as a prlnclpal ln lLs lnnovauon
Servlces group, whlch ls A8C's consulung arm. We use user experlence deslgn,
eLhnographlc research, buslness sLraLegy, lnnovauon poruollo managemenL, and
execuuve Lralnlng Lo help companles reduce Lhe rlsk of adopung novel Lechnologles
and lncrease Lhelr chances of compeuuve success.
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Slnce ume ls shorL Loday, l'd llke Lo [ump rlghL lnLo Lhe fuLure of manufacLurlng by
beglnnlng wlLh 18Lh cenLury furnlLure deslgn.
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1hls ls 1homas Chlppendale. Pe was a well-known furnlLure maker ln 18Lh CenLury
London. ?ou probably know hls name, buL hls deslgns have become so culLurally
embedded LhaL Lhey don'L look llke Lhe work of a slngle person, buL [usL whaL old
furnlLure looks llke.

Pe was Lhe eplLome of a maker aL Lhe dawn of Lhe lndusLrlal 8evoluuon. Pe was a
very successful crasman and had a large workshop of apprenuces LhaL execuLed hls
deslgns ln a process LhaL had been gradually evolvlng slnce Lhe gulld sysLem of Lhe
mlddle ages. Pe earned a loL of money maklng furnlLure for Lhe 18Lh cenLury London
arlsLocracy, buL l don'L wanL Lo Lalk abouL Lhe Lhlngs he made, slnce LhaL's noL where
mosL of hls fame or forLune came from.
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l wanL Lo Lalk abouL Lhls. 1hls ls why we know hls name. Pls fame and forLune dld noL
come from hls furnlLure, buL from a revoluuonary book he publlshed ln 1734, Lhe
CenLleman and CablneL-Maker's ulrecLor. lL's a book of uLSlCnS for furnlLure.
lnformauon. ulrecuons. lL's called Lhe ulrecLor because lL's full of dlrecuons. lL's
slmulLaneously an lnsLrucuon manual and a caLalog. And lL was a monsLer hlL.
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1he furnlLure ln your grandparenLs' dlnlng rooms ls probably a dlrecL descendanL of
hls deslgns ln Lhe ulrecLor.
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MosL furnlLure deslgn Loday can Lrace lLs orlgln Lo hls deslgns elLher dlrecLly.
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.or as a reacuon Lo lLs more exLreme ldeas.
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lL was such a blg hlL ln boLh Lngland and lLs colonles LhaL Chlppendale was Lhe rsL
person who wasn'L a klng Lo have a sLyle of furnlLure named aer hlm.

More Lhan [usL a successful deslgn gulde, for me lL represenLs a ma[or mllesLone ln
dlsungulshlng beLween an ob[ecL and lLs represenLauon, and uslng LhaL for
commerclal advanLage. Chlppendale was Lhe orlglnal demaLerlallzer. Pe converLed
deslgns for hundreds of dlerenL klnds of furnlLure lnLo a compacL, sLandardlzed seL
of modular lnsLrucuons. Why dld he do Lhls? lsn'L he [usL glvlng away hls preclous
lnLellecLual properLy, Lhe secreLs of hls workshop?

ln my model of whaL Chlppendale LhoughL-and Lhls ls [usL my model slnce we know
very llule abouL hlm personally-he reallzes LhaL Lhanks Lo Lhe rlslng forLunes of Lhe
colonles, Lhere's a markeL for hls deslgns ouLslde of Lngland, buL lL's noL one he can
access by selllng acLual furnlLure. lurnlLure ls heavy. lL's expenslve Lo shlp, even ln
Lhe uk Lhe roads are sull preuy bad, and besldes hls workshop can only puL ouL so
many pleces. Powever, he knows Lhere's abundanL hardwood and cablneLmaklng
Lools ln Lhe colonles-Lhese are commodlLy maLerlals-and shlpplng books ls much
cheaper Lhan shlpplng posLer beds. 8ooks are small, Lhey sLack well, and you can
really pack Lhem wlLh lnformauon. 8y publlshlng Lhe ulrecLor he can sell hls ldeas, hls
parameLrlzed furnlLure soware Lo puL lL ln modern Lerms, Lo people who oLherwlse
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1hls ls nowhere as Lrue as wlLh prlnLed elecLronlcs, where Lhe shape of someLhlng lS
Lhe key.
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llrsL, leL me descrlbe prlnLed elecLronlcs. 1hls ls a relauvely novel non-slllcon meLhod
of creaung funcuonal elecLronlcs. lL uses prlnLers--lnk[eL prlnLers, roll Lo roll gravure
prlnLers, baslcally any prlnung Lechnology--Lo prlnL a varleLy of maLerlals--nanomeLals
ln soluuon, organlc semlconducLors, carbon nanoLubes--onLo nonconducuve
subsLraLes whlch can be varlous forms of plasuc, glass, Lexules, eLc. ln lLs slmplesL
form lL's roughly equlvalenL Lo squlrung llnes of sllver dusL and sooL onLo saran wrap.

lL's ln lLs lnfancy, buL lL's a form of elecLronlcs LhaL does noL requlre you Lo have a
bllllon dollar fab, or crysLalllne slllcon, or a galllum arsenlde vapor deposluon
chamber Lo creaLe funcuonal loglc.
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When you comblne lL wlLh 3u prlnung, whlch ls a sLralghuorward exLenslon of boLh
Lhe maLerlals and machlnes, you're looklng aL Lhe ablllLy Lo prlnL an enure devlce,
loglc and all, from commodlLy maLerlals.

When l arrlved aL A8C and saw whaL prlnLed elecLronlcs could do lL was a ma[or
revelauon Lo me. lL lmmedlaLely challenged a number of my assumpuons. llrsL, lL
means LhaL prlnung lsn'L [usL abouL maklng Lhe case for someLhlng, or abouL
decoraung, or maklng mechanlcal componenLs, lL's abouL dolng all of LhaL Anu
addlng lnLelllgence and funcuonallLy, whlch ls Lhe ma[or break beLween Loday's
machlnes and Lhose before ublqulLous compuung. Moreover, lL holds Lhe promlse of
belng able Lo make fully funcuonal devlces ouL of commodlLy maLerlals and
machlnes. no more exouc maLerlals, secreL processes, no more maglc black chlps
from a slngle manufacLurer, no more arblLrary supply chaln holdups, no more boxes
sLuck ln cusLoms, no more unobLalnum.

We're nowhere near Lhere yeL, we're sull ln Lhe pockeL calculaLor-era aL besL, buL Lalk
Lo !anos veres, who heads A8C's prlnLed elecLronlcs lab and spoke here earller
Loday. Pe can Lell you all abouL lL.
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When you Lake away all Lhe proprleLary componenLs you are le wlLh Chlppendale's
lnslghL, whlch ls LhaL ln an ecosysLem of commodlues, Lhe value ls ln Lhe shapes, ln
Lhe deslgn. lor prlnLed elecLronlcs Lhls ls of uLmosL lmporLance, because shape lS
funcuonallLy. 1he squlggles are noL decorauon, Lhey are Lhe funcuon, exacLly llke Lhe
LranslsLors on a slllcon chlp, buL made wlLh much more accesslble Lechnologles.

Much of Lhe maglc of 3u prlnung ls waLchlng someLhlng LhaL was daLa Lurned lnLo a
physlcal Lhlng before your eyes, buL seelng prlnLed elecLronlcs and how lL crossed Lhe
boundary beLween supporL maLerlal, decorauon and funcuon remlnded me of a
problem LhaL l had encounLered maklng open source hardware, whlch ls LhaL maklng
hardware doesn'L work aL all llke maklng soware.

1he promlse of dlglLal manufacLurlng ls LhaL Lhe physlcal world could be llke soware:
l download a dlglLal represenLauon of a Lhlng, use my local aLom compller, and
suddenly Lhe represenLauon becomes real. ALoms can be [usL llke blLs! 1he real world
wlll be [usL llke soware!
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LxcepL LhaL's noL how lL works ln pracuce, as we know. 1he world of dlglLal
manufacLurlng Loday ls noL llke Lhe world of soware. 1hlnglverse ls noL
Chlppendale's ulrecLor. 1he mosL complex dlglLally manufacLured producLs we can
make auLomaucally are sull very prlmluve. lf we conunue Lo use soware as an
analogy, Loday we can make lndlvldual punchcards, buL we can'L yeL wrlLe an
appllcauon.
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lf we examlne how modern soware ls bullL, we see a deep layered lnfrasLrucLure of
llbrarles, header les, scrlpLs, compllers, llnkers, assemblers, eLc. When Lalklng abouL
Lhe real world, lL's Lrue you can prlnL someLhlng LhaL looks llke a camera, or a blcycle,
or a bag of poLaLo chlps, buL lL won'L work llke one.

Pow do we geL Lo Lhe polnL where we can Lake a commodlLy maLerlal and a seL of
commodlLy Lools and Lhen have Lhem auLomaucally produce someLhlng LhaL we
conslder Lo be a funcuonal arufacL, say a ashllghL? We have Lhe Lechnlcal capablllLy
Lo geL very close Lo LhaL. We have 3d prlnLers, CnC mllls, plck and place machlnes,
and assembly roboLs. WhaL we're mlsslng ls represenLauons for enure ob[ecLs.
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WhaL dlsungulshes Lhe way we make physlcal Lhlngs from Lhe way we make soware
Lhlngs ls LhaL ln soware we have complex, auLomaucally lnLerpreLed
represenLauons of many dlerenL klnds of componenLs, whlch are coupled wlLh
exlble auLomauc assembly lnsLrucuons.

l feel LhaL we need represenLauons of physlcal ob[ecLs LhaL recognlze LhaL worklng
Lhlngs are Lyplcally consLrucLed from many heLerogeneous pleces LhaL need Lo be
assembled. 1hey need Lo represenL LhaL some aspecLs of Lhe deslgn are exlble,
whlle oLhers are noL, LhaL you can replace cerLaln parLs of Lhe deslgn, buL noL oLhers.
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Pere's a dlrecLory llsung for ClLhub's ALom edlLor.

lL Look Lhe soware world a long ume Lo geL Lo headers, llbrarles, dependency
checklng, Lo make, auLoconf and apL-geL. 1oday we have mulufaceLed represenLauon
of all Lhe dlerenL parLs of a plece of soware, coupled wlLh dynamlc recongurauon
of Lhose parLs Lo L Lhe local ecosysLem and Lhe needs and deslres of end users.
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ln 2007 hll 1orrone proposed hls slx-layer burrlLo" model for Cpen Source
Pardware, and Lhls was probably Lhe rsL end-Lo-end model for how Lo represenL all
of Lhe funcuonal parLs of a devlce. Pe called lL a beglnnlng, and l Lhlnk lL's an
excellenL beglnnlng, buL ln Lhe 7 years slnce we haven'L really moved any closer Lo a
way Lo descrlbe Lhe dlerenL componenLs of a funcuonal Lhlng and lnsLrucuons for
assembllng Lhe pleces.
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?es, Lhere are promlslng new hardware descrlpuon languages such as !onaLhan
8achrach's open source Chlsel, buL Lhey're roughly equlvalenL Lo a C source le,
absLracuon-wlse, raLher Lhan a make le, much less an auLoconf le. 1hls ls a greaL
descrlpuon of a componenL, buL we're sull mlsslng descrlpuons of sysLems.
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ln 2008 nlck Zambem proposed Lhe hyslcal Compuung Markup Language, or CML,
whlch would Lake an xML descrlpuon of a deslred parLs llsL and use a preprocessor Lo
generaLe all Lhe seLup code necessary Lo use Lhe specled componenLs. 1hls ls
analogous Lo how auLoconf works for soware, collecung lnformauon abouL Lhe
ground LruLh of Lhe envlronmenL belng bullL for, and generaung a chunk of varlable
code LhaL modles Lhe code LhaL has Lhe core funcuonallLy.

nlck never lmplemenLed Lhls, buL l Lhlnk Lhls ls a preuy good model of whaL l'm
Lhlnklng abouL. An open-ended descrlpuve framework LhaL ls machlne-readable,
somewhaL human-readable and descrlbes a pro[ecL's sLandard" componenLs, whlle
slmulLaneously congurlng Lhe nal producL manufacLurlng and assembly
lnsLrucuons so LhaL Lhey sulL Lhe speclc conLexL ln whlch lL wlll be used, wlLh Lhe
maLerlals LhaL are avallable.
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8lghL now all of Lhls ls belng done by hand. Lvery dlerenL plece has a dlerenL
meLhod Lo descrlbe lL and rlghL now Lhe lnLerpreLauon of Lhe represenLauons ls
largely up Lo human experLs, slnce Lhere's no canonlcal way Lo sysLemaucally package
up and valldaLe all of Lhe pleces. 1he facL LhaL so much of Lhe experuse necessary ls
sLuck lnslde people's heads ls one of Lhe reasons LhaL makes hardware hard.

As per 1orrone's descrlpuon, Lo adequaLely descrlbe a producL, wheLher Lo open
source lL or Lo manufacLure lL auLomaucally you need Lo descrlbe all of Lhe
componenLs LhaL go lnLo lL ln a conslsLenL way. 1he 8CM, Lhe C8, Lhe assembly
lnsLrucuons, Lhe core rmware, and Lhe mechanlcal and esLheuc componenLs.
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Moreover, we're well lnLo Lhe era of analyucs and machlne lnLelllgence. AnyLhlng
LhaL can be encoded can be reasoned on and analyzed, so more Lhan for auLomaung
our dlglLal manufacLurlng, we need Lo creaLe represenLauons LhaL our Lools wlll be
able Lo reason on. 1hls ls an lmage of a parL LhaL's been colored based on whaL ls
manufacLurable by a speclc seL of machlnes uslng a speclc maLerlal, whaL ls noL,
and whaL may produce problems. 1hls lmage was creaLed by a A8C sysLem LhaL
sLarLs from rsL prlnclples and looks aL Lhe geomeLry of Lhe parL, Lhe geomeLry of Lhe
speclc seL of CnC machlnes LhaL are golng Lo make lL. lL know whaL cumng Lools can
and can'L do wlLh a glven maLerlal, and ldenues all Lhe dlerenL ways you could
make a parL so lL can Lell you wheLher lL can be made, and lL oers suggesuons for
how Lo change lL Lo make lL beuer.

1hls ls Lhe klnd of Lechnology LhaL's golng Lo make commodlLy maLerlals and
machlnes compeuuve, and surpass, proprleLary maLerlals and exouc manufacLurlng
Lechnologles. Cur Lools wlll Lell us how Lo make a Lhlng even when Lhe perfecL
componenLs or Lhe laLesL machlnery are noL avallable.
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l don'L wanL Lo boll Lhe ocean, here. l'm noL looklng Lo creaLe Lhe ulumaLe reallLy
descrlpuon sysLem. l however, see a deep change comlng ln how Lhlngs are made,
whlch means a blg change ln how we represenL Lhem.
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As we develop smarLer Lools and fasLer manufacLurlng Lechnologles LhaL allow for
ughLer lLerauon of ldeas, and we develop novel Lechnologles LhaL blur Lhe physlcal
parLs of a devlce wlLh Lhe lnformauon processlng parLs we are ln a sense
demaLerlallzlng boLh lndlvldual devlces and Lhe machlnes LhaL make Lhem.

l belleve LhaL Lo geL Lo Lhe Lrllllon devlce world of Lhe lnLerneL of Lhlngs, we wlll
necessarlly have Lo move Lo a commodlLy maLerlal model where Lhe value ls ln
deslgn. A Lrllllon devlce world ls bullL enurely dlerenLly Lhan we bulld Lhlngs Loday,
and l rmly belleve LhaL Lhe success of such a model-boLh lLs nanclal success and
lLs ablllLy Lo rapldly creaLe soclal good-wlll be based on quallLy of our
represenLauons and LhaL we need Lo change how we represenL Lhe manufacLurlng
process Lo make lL more llke soware Lhan llke handlcra.

ln a world where aLoms and blLs freely ow beLween each oLher, lL ls Lhe
represenLauons LhaL gulde Lhe Lransformauons LhaL wlll hold Lhe maglc, noL chlp
fabs, or rare earLh mlnes. ln Lhe fuLure, lL's shapes all Lhe way down.
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1hank you.
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