Speculating the Future(s) of MST Technology

July 8th (Tue.), 2025, 13:30 – 17:30

Speculating the Future(s) of Mediated Social Touch Technology

At IEEE World Haptics Conference 2025
in Suwon Convention Centre, Suwon, Korea 🇰🇷

Let's collectively imagine future implications of mediated social touch (MST) technology

Also, register via this EOI Link

About The Workshop

Mediated Social Touch (MST) enables people to convey touch across distance, opening new possibilities for connection—yet also raising ethical, social, and emotional questions. As haptic interfaces evolve, it becomes essential not only to perfect tactile realism, but also to anticipate the unintended consequences such technologies may bring. This workshop aims to surface and materialise the potential impacts of MST, prompting dialogue before they unfold. To that end, we bring together engineers, designers, and researchers to “speculate” on the future(s) of MST using the Future Ripples Method—a workshop-based futuring exercise that turns today’s signals and trends into "what-if" scenarios and visualises their potential interconnected consequences. Featuring inspiring keynotes from Prof. Hsin-Ni Ho and Prof. Hiroyuki Kajimoto, participants will:

(1) explore the future(s) of MST through a futuring framework,

(2) map out opportunities and threats posed by MST technological advancements,

(3) exchange their visions with other hapticians and designers, and

(4) learn innovative futuring tools for their research and design practice.

Workshop Schedule

Future Ripples is a workshop method that uses scanning for signals, framing and futuring, and thus, aligns with the process of traditional foresight. We use the sea and ripples metaphor to introduce novices to the concept of uncertainty and consequential thinking (see Figure above).

FutureRipples.mp4

A metaphorical visualisation of the Future Ripples process – (01) scanning the shore for indicators of change; (02) choosing a ‘what if’ scenario as a pebble; (03) and throwing the pebble into the water and mapping out its consequences as ripples.

More info about its development in our research paper: https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3532106.3534570

Or check out the open-access template: https://miro.com/miroverse/future-ripples-method/

Call for Participation

We invite hapticians, including but not limited to engineers, designers, technologists, and computer scientists, who are interested in learning how to apply a future-oriented mindset to their work practices. In this hands-on workshop, participants are expected to have prior experience working on haptic-related projects. In the workshop, participants will share their unique visions and experiences while learning to identify potential opportunities and threats in the future of haptic technologies, helping to guide the development of mediated social touch (MST) technology.

Please note:
- If you are interested in joining this workshop and speculating on the future of MST technology with us. Please sign up for the workshop both at Register at WHC'25 and EOI link. You will need to answer a few questions about your experience working with haptic-related topics.

- This workshop is “register only.” Only people who have signed up through EOI Link are able to participate. We expect the participants to participate throughout the entire workshop to ensure a positive workshop experience and high-quality workshop results.

- The workshop outcomes will be collected by the organisers for the next step of their study. The collected data includes participant ideation outcomes in the forms of drawings, notes, and photographs of the discussion (anonymised), but excludes identifiable information of our participants. A participant consent form and participant information statement are provided in the EOI link and will be handed out at the beginning of the workshop.

Please also register through this EOI link

Keynote Speakers

A/Prof. Hsin-Ni Ho

Kyushu University

Title: Enhancing Human Communication with Haptic Feedback

Prof. Hiroyuki Kajimoto

The University of Electro-Communications

Title: Broadening the Area: Cases of the Hanger Reflex and Electrotactile Display

Organising Team

Russian Wu - University of Sydney

Russian (Ruo-Xuan) Wu is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Sydney specialising in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Haptic Technology and Digital Fabrication. His research focuses on Mediated Social Touch (MST) and haptic systems for recording, synthesising, and reproducing social touch experiences. His research investigates the building blocks of social touch and speculates the future(s) of MST with Speculative Design and Design Fiction.

Tim Moesgen - Aalto University

Tim Moesgen is an interaction designer and Ph.D. candidate at Aalto University, Finland. His research focuses on the design and development of haptic, thermal, and multi-sensory interfaces + experiences. With his research on such emerging technologies, he is also interested in advancing speculative methods + futures thinking to inspire the imagination and anticipation of inclusive and empathic futures.

Dr. Myung Jin (MJ) Kim - Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute

Myung Jin Kim is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Human-Computer Interaction with interests in multimodal perception, extended reality (XR) interfaces, interaction design, and adaptive systems that enhance engagement and usability in immersive environments. His work investigates how feedback is perceived and integrated across modalities to support more intuitive and embodied user experiences. He has examined haptic interaction in immersive settings and continues to explore how multimodal feedback can inform the design of systems attuned to human perception.

Dr. Donald Degraen - University of Canterbury

Donald Degraen is a lecturer (assistant professor) at the HIT Lab NZ, University of Canterbury, New Zealand. His research explores the intersection of haptics, fabrication and virtual reality through building tools and evaluating methods to design touch experiences. Degraen received his Ph.D. in computer science from Saarland University, Germany.

A/Prof. Hsin-Ni Ho - Kyushu University

Dr. Hsin-Ni Ho is an Associate Professor at Kyushu University, Japan, with a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She specializes in developing haptic interfaces based on human perception. Her research focuses on the role of touch in Shitsukan perception and social interactions. Her work aims to advance haptic interfaces for sharing tactile experiences and enhancing affective communication. She has served as an associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Haptics and is Program Chair for AsiaHaptics 2024.

Dr. Luke Hespanhol - University of Sydney

Dr Luke Hespanhol is a Senior Lecturer in Design at The University of Sydney, Director of the Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts, a member of the University's Academic Board, and a Fellow of the Social Impact Hub, Australia. Luke's practice investigates the intersection of people, culture, and technology. That includes a range of theoretical and practical angles, like design interventions for and with vulnerable groups, such as First Nations peoples, refugees, and people in prison. It also includes speculative approaches towards possible futures, the mediation of cities and culture through digital technologies, across the fields of media architecture, digital storytelling, social and cross-cultural interactions, placemaking, urban informatics, and smart cities.

Dr. Marius Hoggenmueller - University of Sydney

Marius Hoggenmueller is a researcher and lecturer in Interaction Design at the University of Sydney. He investigates how to design and prototype interactions with emerging technologies, such as robots and autonomous systems. By integrating speculative design, he critically examines possible futures of human-machine interaction, questioning dominant narratives and envisioning alternative technological trajectories.

A/Prof. Anusha Withana - University of Sydney

Anusha Withana is an Associate Professor and an ARC DECRA fellow at the School of Computer Science at the University of Sydney. He works in human-computer interaction (HCI) research, mainly focusing on creating personalised enabling technologies, including haptic and tactile interfaces, using computational fabrication methods.

The Venue

World Haptics 2025

Suwon, Korea

This workshop will be presented over a half-day in an onsite format in Suwon Convention Centre.

Contact us for questions

E-mail to Russian Wu, russian.wu@sydney.edu.au

Chief Investigator: Dr. Luke Hespanhol
Email: luke.hespanhol@sydney.edu.au, Phone +61 2 86275414

This study has been approved by The University of Sydney,
Human Research Ethics Committee [2024/HE10330]

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