Two of our PhD students, Lingxiao Luo and Anna Schaeffner, were invited to exhibit their research at the Ars Electronica 2024 international festival in Linz, Austria, which celebrates the intersections between art, technology and society on September 4.

Anna Schaeffner, from the Reflective interaction group, presented her project Soft Collision (2024) as part of the S+T+ARTs prize. Soft Collision investigates the potential for safe physical interaction by embracing collision rather than avoiding it. A deformable pneumatic membrane serves as a tangible interface to encourage direct manipulation, and live programming makes interactions more intuitive and inclusive. Intensive collaboration between the artist and technical partners was crucial in moving beyond conventional industrial interaction protocols towards a more material form of robotics.

Meanwhile, Lingxiao Luo, from the Soft Matters research group, presented her research on active meshes in the future lab space, where she spent a month on secondment in the context of the MSCA SOFTWEAR doctoral network, dedicated to soft actuators for wearables and exoskeletons. On this occasion, she presented a series of samples and demonstrators exploring knitted soft interfaces that react to touch with a change in behavior that surprises visitors.

Photo credits: vog.photo for Anna Schaefner and Bettina Gangl