Grand Challenges around Designing Computers’ Control Over Our Bodies
Advances in emerging technologies, such as on-body mechanical actuators and electrical muscle stimulation, have allowed computers to take control over our bodies. This presents opportunities as well as challenges, raising fundamental questions about agency and the role of our bodies when interacting with technology. To advance this research field as a whole, we brought together expert perspectives in a week-long seminar to articulate the grand challenges that should be tackled when it comes to the design of computers’ control over our bodies. These grand challenges span technical, design, user, and ethical aspects. By articulating these grand challenges, we aim to begin initiating a research agenda that positions bodily control not only as a technical feature but as a central, experiential, and ethical concern for future human–computer interaction endeavors.
Authors
- Masahiko İnami (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8652-0730)
- Jarrod Knibbe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8844-8576)
- Louise Petersen Matjeka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9716-7207)
- Harald Reiterer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8528-8928)
- Minna O. Nygren (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4086-2479)
- Per Ola Kristensson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7139-871X)
- Sara Price (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5092-1663)
- Arthur Caetano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0207-5471)
- Henning Pohl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1420-4309)
- Ambika Shahu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8753-4942)
- Rakesh Patibanda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2501-9969)
- Aryan Saini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2844-3343)
- N. Berthouze
- Henning Pohl
- Misha Sra
- Phoebe O. Toups Dugas
- Richard Byrne
- Zhuying Li
- Susanne Boll
- Mar Gonzalez-Franco
- Sara Price
- Don Samitha Elvitigala
- Florian 'Floyd' Mueller
- Xiang Li
- Oliver Schneider
- Joe Marshall
- Phoebe O. Toups Dugas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6192-2004)
Institutions
- Google (United States) (US)
- Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg (DE)
- University of Nottingham (GB)
- University of Waterloo (CA)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- University of Konstanz (DE)
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- RCVS Knowledge (GB)
- University College of Osteopathy (GB)
- Intelligent Systems Research (United States) (US)
- University College London (GB)
- Monash University (AU)
- The University of Tokyo (JP)
- Southeast University (CN)
- Aalborg University (DK)
Publication Details
- Published
- 2026-04-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790606
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- UK Research and Innovation
- China Scholarship Council
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
- Australian Research Council