Grand Challenges around Designing Computers' Control Over Our Bodies

TL;DR

This paper discusses the emerging field of computer-controlled bodily interactions, highlighting technical, ethical, and experiential challenges to guide future research in human-computer interaction.

Contribution

It identifies and articulates grand challenges across technical, design, user, and ethical domains for controlling human bodies with computers.

Findings

Highlights opportunities and challenges of bodily control technologies

Proposes a research agenda emphasizing ethical and experiential aspects

Brings together expert perspectives to define key research directions

Abstract

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.