Guest post, by Ned Barker (@nedbarker10 & @BiohybridB). Today on the 1st of October 2021, my focus switches from InTouch to a new project, ‘Biohybrid bodies: a sociological framework for living with Living Machines’, supported by the Leverhulme Trust and UCL’s Institute of Education. Besides introducing the project, this thinking piece charts some of the key the ideas encountered through the InTouch Robotic Touch case study that inspired its formation.
Thinking Pieces
Unlocking Touch
This podcast episode is a little different from our usual interviews. Unlocking Touch uses imaginative sound design, emotionally gripping narrative, and powerful invitations to engage in simple physical practices, to tell the story of Mary’s journey through the COVID19 pandemic. The very rooms in which the listener lives become the setting for this compelling story… Continue reading Unlocking Touch
Seeing and Feeling: Touch and Visual Art
Guest post, by Julian Stair (@julianstair) 'Unlike literary communication, an art does not carry a message: it is a message. If you still persist and ask the artist what that message is, he will be unable to satisfy you. If he could, it would not be necessary for the art to exist.' Michael Cardew, Pioneer… Continue reading Seeing and Feeling: Touch and Visual Art
Haptics For All: Democratizing the Haptic Design Ecosystem
Guest post, by Hannah Elbaggari (@hmhrchl) Where would you go to learn about haptics? This blog? A mentor? The World Wide Web? Haptics (also referred to as ‘digital touch’) has grown from a sub-field of mechanical engineering in the 90s to encompass areas of robotics, human-computer interaction (HCI), the creative arts, and more. It has… Continue reading Haptics For All: Democratizing the Haptic Design Ecosystem
The ‘Anatomy of ice’ explored through touch & sound
The ‘Anatomy of ice’ explored through touch & sound Guest post, by Hannah Rowan (@rowanhannah) The project Anatomy of Ice is part of my ongoing research into glass, ice and phases of matter. The transcript and video featured in this blog post come from a performance I developed in Svalbard in the Arctic Circle,… Continue reading The ‘Anatomy of ice’ explored through touch & sound
Industrial Touch & Robotic Imaginations
In this episode, Lili Golmohammadi catches up with Dr Ned Barker to hear about his research into advanced robots in industrial settings. Every industrial revolution, or major technological advancement, transforms the role of touch in making things and the social and sensory experience of work. This has not simply been a story of production being taken out of the hands of workers by automated processes. Who touches what, why, and how, has been a longstanding feature of our sociological and political life – especially when it comes to the touching of dirty and dangerous materials. With all the current technological changes afoot, what types of touch do we want to see developing? And what alternatives might there be to the well-known utopian/dystopian cultural imaginations of robots and industrial touch? In this episode, we dive into some of these themes, which emerged through Ned’s time in a waste management centre, a glass bottle factory, and a leading robotics company, as well as through interviews with world-leading roboticists.
The Star-nosed Mole and Our Sense of Touch
Guest post, by Jackie Higgins (@JackieHiggins_) This extract has been adapted from Jackie Higgins's new book 'Sentient: What Animals Reveal about our Senses'. Out now in the UK with Picador and in the USA on 22 February 2022 with Atria. Higgins considers the human senses through the ears, eyes, skins, noses, tongues and more of… Continue reading The Star-nosed Mole and Our Sense of Touch
‘Touch Tools’ at IEEE World Haptics 2021
By Kerstin Leder Mackley (@kayle10) with InTouch (@IN_TOUCH_UCL) [Touch Tools Workshop Website] In July 2021, InTouch brought together an international panel of speakers from academia and industry for an interactive workshop at the IEEE World Haptics Conference 2021. ‘Touch Tools: Bringing Social-Sensorial Tools to Digital Touch Design’ explored the kinds of conceptual and design tools… Continue reading ‘Touch Tools’ at IEEE World Haptics 2021
Technologies of Touch: Rendering physical tactile sensations into virtual online shopping environments
Guest post, by Dr. Margot Racat, Professor of Marketing, IDRAC Business School (@Margot_bb, LinkedIn, Research Gate) Cosmetics are among the most sensory products around. Almost ten years ago when I was working at l’Oréal, the worldwide cosmetic group, they were about to launch their first virtual try-on make-over, and I began to realise that we… Continue reading Technologies of Touch: Rendering physical tactile sensations into virtual online shopping environments
Relearning and reconfiguring touch in life-changing circumstances
In this episode, Lili Golmohammadi and Kerstin Leder Mackley speak to former teacher Caroline Coster about relearning and reconfiguring touch after quadruple amputations. We explore Caroline’s modified touch experiences, including issues of touch sensitivity and the use of digital and analogue tools for navigating everyday life.
IN-TOUCH: DIGITAL TOUCH COMMUNICATION 