• Seminar: Robotic Skin (click for poster)
• Date: June 19, 2025. 13:00-16:15
• Location: Kasernen, Building 1584, Door A, Room 112 Langelandsgade 145, 8000 Aarhus C

What happens when machines are embodied in skin? From silicone sheaths to lab-grown tissue and AI sensors, skin is no longer exclusive to biology. It is a medium of sensations, identity, and emotion that is not limited to the human experience but also to the design of machines. While skin is often perceived as a biological organ, it is also a cultural surface that communicates feelings, signifies identity, and registers our tactile experience of the world. As roboticists develop artificial skin that mimics human touch, new questions emerge about embodiment, perception, and aesthetics. What does it mean when machines feel? And how do artificial surfaces reshape notions of gender, temporality, and beauty? This interdisciplinary seminar invites scholars from engineering and aesthetic disciplines to explore robotic skin through both technical and cultural lenses.

Programme and presenters:

• 13.00-13.15: Welcome
• 13.15-13.50: Rassoul Tabassian (Assistant Professor, Mechatronics and Dynamics, AU): From Active Prosthetic Limbs to Humanoid Robots, How Machines Feel our World in the Future
• 13.50-14.25: Jonas Jørgensen (Associate Professor, Soft Robotics, SDU): Skin as an Interface of Soft Robotics
• 14.25-14.55: Coffee Break
• 14.55-15.30: Hanna Gerda Brøndal (PhD Student, Art History, AU): Embodying Uncanny Surfaces
• 15.30-16.05: Mette-Marie Zacher Sørensen (Associate Professor, Aesthetics and Culture, AU) and Lea Laura N. Michelsen (Postdoctoral Fellow, Art History, AU): The Aesthetics of Artificial Touch
• 16.05-16.15: Wrap-up
   

Seminar developed by Cultures and Practices of Digital Technologies (CuPra) and Arts, Aesthetics and Communication (AAC).

More information, please contact Hanna Gerda Brøndal (she/her)