CURRENT RESEARCH
My research is located in design and human-computer interaction, with a particular focus on embodied interaction. The research methodologies I apply are predominantly qualitative, oriented to design research and creative practice. My creative works incorporate performance and installation to engage and critique new technologies. My approach to research is to place the lived body at the core of inquiry into contemporary issues and emerging technologies, and to explore how to design future products and systems from such understandings. Design methods and tools for critical, user-centred and participatory design form a large part of my research program.
An ongoing strand of research is the development of methods for working with the creative potential of the moving body, drawn from dance, performance and somatic practices, which can be appropriated by designers. This is part of my commitment to developing somatic literacy as a design sensibility - an important complement to digital design literacy in the expanding territory of contemporary interaction design practice. The body is treated as a design material, along with more traditional design materials and technologies, in an experimental design approach.
My enduring interest in dance and the kinaesthetic imagination drives creative research into the kinetic expression of machines, with current project Lipstick Drawing Robots, exploring how humans and robots can collaboratively interact through movement, gesture and touch. Recent projects include Cobuilt 4.0, the investigation of collaborative robotics to assist construction workers, in partnership with Landcom; and What is a Collaborative Robot?, a sociological study of how humans interpret the actions of an industrial cobot as collaborative or not, funded by the Centre for Robotics and Intelligent Systems.
An ongoing strand of research is the development of methods for working with the creative potential of the moving body, drawn from dance, performance and somatic practices, which can be appropriated by designers. This is part of my commitment to developing somatic literacy as a design sensibility - an important complement to digital design literacy in the expanding territory of contemporary interaction design practice. The body is treated as a design material, along with more traditional design materials and technologies, in an experimental design approach.
My enduring interest in dance and the kinaesthetic imagination drives creative research into the kinetic expression of machines, with current project Lipstick Drawing Robots, exploring how humans and robots can collaboratively interact through movement, gesture and touch. Recent projects include Cobuilt 4.0, the investigation of collaborative robotics to assist construction workers, in partnership with Landcom; and What is a Collaborative Robot?, a sociological study of how humans interpret the actions of an industrial cobot as collaborative or not, funded by the Centre for Robotics and Intelligent Systems.
COLLABORATIVE ROBOTS
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Lipstick Drawing Robots
A feminist, critical design research approach to investigating how robots can collaborate gesturally, kinaesthetically and tactilely with humans in intimate, sensuous acts. The act of how a woman applies her lipstick is at once highly personal, yet common across cultures. What does it mean for a robot to replace the human hand in such an act?
The research addresses ethical issues of intimacy, agency, vulnerability and trust in human-robot relations, as well as interesting technical problems of how a robot can be programmed to recognise and draw upon the mobile surface of human lips. |
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Credits
Concept: Lian Loke, Dagmar Reinhardt
Actors: Susana Alarcon Licona, Kuka KR10
Robot programming: Lynn Masuda
Technical Design: Susana Alarcon Licona
Cinematography and video edit: Paul Warren
Sound: Lindsay Webb
Robot programming work and end-effector development produced at DMaF, The University of Sydney.
Concept: Lian Loke, Dagmar Reinhardt
Actors: Susana Alarcon Licona, Kuka KR10
Robot programming: Lynn Masuda
Technical Design: Susana Alarcon Licona
Cinematography and video edit: Paul Warren
Sound: Lindsay Webb
Robot programming work and end-effector development produced at DMaF, The University of Sydney.