Bridges 2026 Exhibition of Mathematical Art, Craft, and Design

Khushbu Kshirsagar

Artists

Khushbu Kshirsagar

Mechanical Artist

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois, USA

kshirsagarkhushbu@gmail.com

khushbukshirsagar.weebly.com

View exhibition history

Statement

Khushbu is an Engineer, Educator and Designer interested in designing hands-on learning experiences at an intersection of engineering design, mathematics and art. She is currently pursuing her doctoral studies in Learning Sciences. Her work follows an interdisciplinary approach to making with a focus on designing playful experiences that spark wonder and curiosity. She designs educational technologies in the form of toys, interactive mechanical art, paper zines and postcards; with the intention to take one away from the computer screen, and to enable accessibility.

Artworks

Image for entry 'E-Origami' — E-Origami
30.0 x 30.0 x 15.0 cm
Paper/Cardstock, conductive ink, microbit, alligator clips, battery pack, a steel ball.
2024
Additional info

This artwork presents E-Origami: origami equipped with embedded electronics, to design dynamic paper-based mazes. E-Origami combines paper folding and simple electronics; by using the valley and fold creases in waterbomb tessellations or miura ori folds, the goal is to move a steel ball from one point to another. A microbit (microcontroller) powers the electric circuit drawn on the creases of the tessellation patterns using conductive ink. This circuit is incomplete in certain paths, and when a steel ball rolls over these incomplete paths, the circuit completes by making a buzzer sound. This interactive experience uses the affordances of the origami tessellations to maneuver the steel ball on the maze by avoiding the buzzer sound(s).