We present a novel intercorporeal experience – an intersubjective haptic voice. Through an autobiographical design inquiry, based on singing techniques from the classical opera tradition, we created Corsetto, a kinesthetic garment for transferring somatic reminiscents of vocal experience from an expert singer to a listener. We then composed haptic gestures enacted in the Corsetto, emulating upper-body movements of the live singer performing a piece by Morton Feldman named Three Voices. The gestures in the Corsetto added a haptics-based ‘fourth voice’ to the immersive opera performance. Finally, we invited audiences who were asked to wear Corsetto during live performances. Afterwards they engaged in micro-phenomenological interviews. The analysis revealed how the Corsetto managed to bridge inner and outer bodily sensations, creating a feeling of a shared intercorporeal experience, dissolving boundaries between listener, singer and performance. We propose that ‘intersubjective haptics’ can be a generative medium not only for singing performances, but other possible intersubjective experiences.

The fields of programmable matter, actuated materials, and Soft Robotics are becoming increasingly more relevant for the design of novel applications, interfaces, and user experiences in the domain of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). These research fields often use soft, flexible materials with elastic actuation mechanisms to build systems that are more adaptable, compliant, and suitable for a very broad range of environments. However, at the intersection between HCI and the aforementioned domains, there are numerous challenges related to fabrication methods, development tools, resource availability, nomenclature, design for inclusion, etc. This workshop aims to explore how to make Soft Robotics more accessible to both researchers and nonresearchers alike. We will (1) investigate and identify the various difficulties people face when developing HCI applications that require the transfer of knowledge from those other domains, and (2) discuss possible solutions and visions on how to overcome those difficulties.

In this pictorial, we describe an auto-biographical design process that led to the fabrication of a soft robotic wearable for lower limb movement guidance that we designated Wearable Choreographer. We first explored the design from a first-person perspective and then shared it with four dancers. Our experiments illustrate how the wearable both constrains and inspires the dancers towards new ways of performing, challenging them to rethink their movements. Our design inquiry contributes with reflections on soft robotics that uncover the challenges and prospects designers and researchers in Human-Computer Interaction face when designing, prototyping and experimenting with such technologies for embodied interactions.

Fiber - a primitive yet ubiquitous form of material - intertwines with our bodies and surroundings, from constructing our fibrous muscles that enable our movement, to forming fabrics that intimately interface with our skin. In soft robotics and advanced materials science research, actuated fibers are gaining interest as thin, flexible materials that can morph in response to external stimuli. In this paper, we build on fluidic artificial muscles research to develop OmniFiber - a soft, line-based material system for designing movement-based interactions. We devised actuated thin (øouter < 1.8 mm) fluidic fibers with integrated soft sensors that exhibit perceivably strong forces, up to 19 N at 0.5 MPa, and a high speed of linear actuation peaking at 150mm/s. These allow to flexibly weave them into everyday tangible interactions; including on-body haptic devices for embodied learning, synchronized tangible interfaces for remote communication, and robotic crafting for expressivity. The design of such interactive capabilities is supported by OmniFiber's design space, accessible fabrication pipeline, and a fluidic I/O control system to bring omni-functional fluidic fibers to the HCI toolbox of interactive morphing materials.

In this paper we present our late-breaking work in leveraging a soft robotic fiber-based wearable system for the transposition of somatic knowledge and experience within the context of singing. We examine how the transposition of the physical nuances of singing from one body to another, or multiple other bodies, is possible by engaging with a soma design process. We share our findings in the context of experience transposition, resulting in a preliminary prototype: A pneumatically controlled soft robotic garment-called ADA (short for air-driven actuator) for re-enacting felt experiences of singing onto the human body. We contribute with 1) our initial findings in transposing singing experiences between and across bodies, and 2) a preliminary wearable robotic garment to mediate intersomatic experiences of singing.

 Menarche is the first occurrence of menstrual bleeding and it usually begins between the ages of 9–15. This makes menarche a crucial transition among other social, physiological and behavioural changes during puberty. In this soma-based research-through-design project we design an open-ended prototyping kit: Menarche Bits. The aim of Menarche Bits is to open a design space for young adolescents to create body-worn technologies that support them in making space for their experiences of menarche and trusting their menstruating bodies. Menarche Bits consists of heat elements and shape-changing actuators that can be worn directly on the body by adhering to the skin or being inserted into pockets in a stretchable fabric as part of a garment. We describe the soma design process behind Menarche Bits as an example of how body-worn technologies can intimately interact with the body and its movement, temporality and material changes.

Movement plays an increasingly important role in interactive systems design, from users' physical engagement, to how designed artefacts can move or be moved, and to the concert between users and artefacts. Designers, as well as programmers, have to engage more and more in physical activities when they want to create appealing experiences involving movement. There is a need for articulating emerging dialogues between designers, developers, and their materials. We will explore such dialogues in a 2-half-day workshop, focusing on data and its challenges, on tools and methods, on sensing and actuation when designing or detecting subtle body movements, and on catering for bodily changes over time.

Human reasoning often revolves around dichotomies: male-female, rational-irrational, emotion-thinking, body-mind, white-black, and so on. Through our design processes, we often repeat and reinforce these patterns. We argue that a stronger somatic engagement with the digital materials might open the design space in different manners, thereby bypassing some of these ready-made conceptualizations. Through a soma design stance we have attempted to address: dualism; feminist qualities such as pluralism and participation; addressing and counteracting privilege; and how to get closer to our bodies and our selves instead of letting data and interaction distance ourselves from our bodies, emotion, and experience.