Matthew Borgatti

I’m Matthew Borgatti. I love building things, understanding systems, and exploring the intersections between art, materials, and technology. You may have seen movies featuring monsters I’ve built, played with some of the open source projects I've released, or bought one of the products I’ve helped design. My work has appeared in Wired, Vice, BoingBoing, PopSci, and TechCrunch. There’s a good chance that one of my Hackerspace Passports is at your local community DIY spaces. Between getting my industrial design degree at RISD and now, I’ve built a real-life Tomagotchi featuring microscopic water bears, space suit gloves for NASA, inflatable drone shells for Google Wing, handwriting robots, kite powered racing boats, and wearable technologies for some of the world's premier R&D labs. I also animated a TV series for NOVA and put together a Spider-Man inspired wall climbing suit for Prototype This. I’m a member of NYC Resistor, New York’s longest running hackerspace, and a professor at SVA, teaching systems design and smart objects. My first book: Soft Robotics, is an exploration of the emerging field of soft robotics through a series of fun DIY projects you can make at home. It uses a combination of everyday craft materials, 3d printed parts, and some cool extras like silicone and hobby electronics to show you the incredible world of mechanisms inspired by nature.