ABOUT US

ABOUT US

What we believe, what we do, and who we are

Our Philosophy

We love to make things and help other make things. Regardless of technical or artistic ability, we believe everyone should be empowered to build prototypes and realize their ideas. We develop technology and techniques that will enable digital technology to be part of everyone's creative workflows.

What We Do

Prototyping

Digital Fabrication

Pen Computing

Input Techniques and Modalities

M3 (MishMashMakers) is a research and prototyping consultancy that was started by a Computer Scientist who loves to make things.

By taking a holistic view of the making and fabrication pipeline from initial ideation on pen and paper (or digital devices) through to conceptual mockups (in AR or VR), or working prototypes (using Digital Fabrication techniques) and final products, M3 seeks to help you make things. Our clients and partners often include graduate students, academic researchers, educational institutions, non-profits, industry practitioners, and small to medium-sized companies.

Although fabrication technologies such as laser cutters, 3D printers, vinyl cutters and CNC machines have become cheaper and more user friendly, there are still significant technical, financial and knowledge barriers that prevent most people from integrating these technologies into their creative workflows. M3 seeks to improve access to these new fabrication techniques and computational design by developing techniques, blue prints, and proof-of-concept prototypes to reduce the technology barriers that makers encounter, thus empowering non-technical users to realize their creative potential.

Leveraging over a decade of experience in programming, crafting, electronics, and manufacturing, our mission is two fold. We seek to advance the state of the art in making and fabrication by contributing to the academic research community through academic research (see Research Lab), as well as providing hands-on consultation to people who want to get involved in making, crafting and prototyping themselves – providing guidance in fabrication techniques or providing prototyping services directly. This approach enables M3 to advance challenges within making and fabrication  with other world-class researchers and take on more focused, real-world problems.

By the Numbers

Years in Academia
Research and Service Awards
Research Papers Published
Manuscripts Written and/or Edited
USPTO Patents Granted
Projects Managed

The Team

Michelle Annett
Michelle Annett is a PhD graduate from the Department of Computing Science at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She held an NSERC-funded Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the DGP Lab at the University of Toronto and Autodesk Research. She was also an intern and visiting researcher at Microsoft Research and an intern at Autodesk Research.
Her research has always been focused on how to improve access to, and the usability of, technology. During her Post-Doc and PhD, she focused on issues related to the acquisition of new skills within the fabrication and making domain, in addition to innovations in input and interaction techniques. In the past, she focused on how multi-touch devices could be integrated into occupational and physical therapy programs and uncovered the fundamental issues with pen-based interfaces. she also knows a thing or two about virtual reality (from her MSc).

At M3, Michelle runs the entire show … from prototyping, to research, to technical writing, she does it all!