Futures of Interaction & Everyday Tech
Date: Tuesday 11 Nov 2025
Room: S/2.22 - Sandpit/Katherine Johnson Suite
| Time | Presentation | Abstract | Authors | Contribution type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11:00-11:10 | Choreographing Trash Cans: On Speculative Futures of Weak Robots in Public Spaces | Delivering groceries or cleaning airports, mobile robots exist in public spaces. While these examples showcase robots that execute tasks, this paper explores mobile robots that encourage posthuman collaboration rather than managing environments independently. With feigned fragility, cuteness and incomplete functionalities, the so-called ‘‘weak robots’’ invite passersby to engage not only on a utilitarian level, but also through imaginative and emotional responses. After examining the workings of ‘‘weak robots’’ by queering notions of function and ability, we introduce two speculative design fiction vignettes that describe choreographies of such robots in future urban spaces—one exploring a utopian weak robot and the other a dystopian weak robot. We introduce these speculations in order to discuss how different values may drive design decisions, and how such decisions may shape and drive different socio-technical futures in which robots and humans share public spaces that incentivise collaboration. | Minja Axelsson and Lea Luka Sikau | Futures |
| 11:10-11:20 | Back to the Future Museum - Speculative Design for Virtual Citizen-Curated Museums | This forward-looking paper uses speculative design fiction to explore future museum scenarios where citizen curators design and share immersive virtual reality museums populated with tangible heritage artefacts, intangible virtual elements and interactive experiences. The work also explores takeaway ‘asset packs’ containing 3D artefact models, as well as interactive experiences, and envisages a visit to the future museum, where the physical and virtual experiences interplay. Finally, the paper considers the implications of this future museum in terms of resources and the potential impacts on traditional museums. | Richard Rhodes and Sandra Woolley | Futures |
| 11:20-11:30 | Human-Human-AI Codesign for Person-Centred STEAM Futures | This work explores a person-centred vision for future STEAM education through Human–Human–AI Co-design. In a series of participatory workshops, learners from diverse backgrounds collaborated with generative AI tools (ChatGPT, DALL·E) to co-create speculative STEAM learning scenarios. The work reflects on how AI can support—not replace—human-to-human creativity and proposes a novel collaborative structure, Human–Human–AI Co-design, for inclusive educational engagement. This research underscores the importance of embodied reflection and structured co-design workflows for building transdisciplinary, equitable futures. | Jiarong Yu, Beverley Hood and Laura Colucci-Gray | Futures |
| 11:40-12:00 | Exploring user requirements for immersive indoor-to-outdoor video conferencing between older people and their remote family | The key focus of this study is to understand perceptions of potential features in novel video conferencing system designs that can effectively support social connection between older adults and their remote family members. This study employs focus group discussions to gain insights into the basic user requirements of older adults. By analysing their current communication with family members and their experiences with existing video-conferencing systems, the research aims to explore their social needs and personal experiences with technology in depth. Additionally, through the presentation of immersive, panoramic VR conferencing demonstrations, this study gathered feedback from target users, as well as their aspirations and personal suggestions for future technological developments. The findings from this study will contribute to developing an interactive prototype and provide valuable inspiration for future research and innovation. | Kebing Zhang, David Frohlich and Emily Corrigan-Kavanagh | Research |