Name: How to "sketch" with electronics
Uploaded: 2012-11-15T16:00:35Z
Duration: 6 min 16 s
Description: Designing electronics is generally cumbersome and expensive -- or was, until Leah Buechley and her team at MIT developed tools to treat electronics just like paper and pen. In this talk from TEDYouth 2011, Buechley shows some of her charming designs, like a paper piano you can sketch and then play.

Leah Buechley: How to "sketch" with electronics

How to "sketch" with electronics

Designing electronics is generally cumbersome and expensive -- or was, until Leah Buechley and her team at MIT developed tools to treat electronics just like paper and pen. In this talk from TEDYouth 2011, Buechley shows some of her charming designs, like a paper piano you can sketch and then play.

Building electronics has long been slow, costly, and creatively limiting, with most circuit boards ending up small, flat, and uninspiring. Now, new tools let anyone sketch and assemble circuits on paper as easily as drawing with a pen. Magnetic components and conductive inks allow for rapid, improvisational prototyping—one project even created a playable paper piano in minutes. This approach opens the door for anyone, not just engineers, to invent interactive designs and playful technology quickly.