Computers’ Control over Bodies: Experts Identify Week-Long Grand Challenges
Researchers are increasingly exploring how computers can directly control our bodies through technologies like on-body mechanical actuators and electrical muscle stimulation. Florian Mueller from Monash University, Nadia Bianchi-Berthouze of University College London, and Misha Sra from University of California Santa Barbara, alongside Gonzalez-Franco, Pohl, and Boll, have collaboratively identified critical ‘grand challenges’ in this rapidly evolving field. Their work, stemming from an expert seminar, moves beyond purely technical considerations to address the fundamental questions of agency, bodily experience, and ethical implications when computers exert control over human movement. By outlining these challenges, this research establishes a vital agenda for future human-computer interaction, ensuring bodily control is approached as a holistic, experiential, and ethically-grounded concern. Computers taking control of human bodies seems like Scientists have demonstrated a pivotal shif...
