Professor STEVE BENFORD's Outputs (145)

Robots in Pain, Humans in Play: Soma as a Qualitative Method for Investigating Intelligent Human-Robot Configurations (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Chamberlain, A., Ngo, V., McGarry, G., Kucukyilmaz, A., Benford, S., & Higgins, A. (2025, February). Robots in Pain, Humans in Play: Soma as a Qualitative Method for Investigating Intelligent Human-Robot Configurations. Presented at Designing for Bodies: Practices, Imaginaries and Discourses, University of Southern Denmark, Kolding

In this piece we start to explore the ways in which we somatise our interaction with robots as a symbiotic system - both as human and robot, and as human-robot. We also consider the ways that we might want to take our physical nature (existence), for... Read More about Robots in Pain, Humans in Play: Soma as a Qualitative Method for Investigating Intelligent Human-Robot Configurations.

Augmenting musical instruments with digital identities (2024)
Journal Article
Benford, S., McGarry, G., Hazzard, A., Chamberlain, A., Gibson, R., & Avila, J. P. M. (2024). Augmenting musical instruments with digital identities. Journal of New Music Research, https://doi.org/10.1080/09298215.2024.2423613

We explore how augmenting musical instruments with digital identities can enhance their provenance, utility during creative practice, and personal meaning. A literature review reveals the importance of object identities in general and instrument iden... Read More about Augmenting musical instruments with digital identities.

How Artists Improvise and Provoke Robotics (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Benford, S., Garrett, R., Schneiders, E., Tennent, P., Chamberlain, A., Avila, J., Brundell, P., & Castle-Green, S. (2024, October). How Artists Improvise and Provoke Robotics. Poster presented at 16th International Conference on Social Robotics + AI (ICSR + AI) 2024, Odense, Denmark

We explore transdisciplinary collaborations between artists and roboticists across a portfolio of artworks. Brendan Walker's Bronco-matic was a breath controlled mechanical rodeo bull ride. Blast Theory's Cat Royale deployed a robot arm to play with... Read More about How Artists Improvise and Provoke Robotics.

Decoding AI in Contemporary Art: A Five-Trope Classification for Understanding and Categorisation (2024)
Journal Article
Salimbeni, G., Benford, S., Reeves, S., & Martindale, S. (2024). Decoding AI in Contemporary Art: A Five-Trope Classification for Understanding and Categorisation. Leonardo, 57(4), 415–421. https://doi.org/10.1162/leon_a_02546

The article presents a historical overview of the classification of contemporary artworks that either have utilized artificial intelligence as a tool in their creation or focus on AI as their central theme or subject matter. The authors analyze artwo... Read More about Decoding AI in Contemporary Art: A Five-Trope Classification for Understanding and Categorisation.

Designing Multispecies Worlds for Robots, Cats, and Humans (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Schneiders, E., Benford, S., Chamberlain, A., Mancini, C., Castle-Green, S., Ngo, V., Row Farr, J., Adams, M., Tandavanitj, N., & Fischer, J. (2024, May). Designing Multispecies Worlds for Robots, Cats, and Humans. Presented at CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’24), Honolulu, HI, USA

We reflect on the design of a multispecies world centred around a bespoke enclosure in which three cats and a robot arm coexist for six hours a day during a twelve-day installation as part of an artist-led project. In this paper, we present the proje... Read More about Designing Multispecies Worlds for Robots, Cats, and Humans.

Charting Ethical Tensions in Multispecies Technology Research through Beneficiary-Epistemology Space (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Benford, S. D., Mancini, C., Chamberlain, A., Schneiders, E., Castle-Green, S. D., Fischer, J. E., Kucukyilmaz, A., Salimbeni, G., Ngo, V. Z. H., Barnard, P., Adams, M., Tandavanitj, N., & Row Farr, J. (2024, May). Charting Ethical Tensions in Multispecies Technology Research through Beneficiary-Epistemology Space. Presented at CHI '24 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Hawaii, USA

While ethical challenges are widely discussed in HCI, far less is reported about the ethical processes that researchers routinely navigate. We reflect on a multispecies project that negotiated an especially complex ethical approval process. Cat Royal... Read More about Charting Ethical Tensions in Multispecies Technology Research through Beneficiary-Epistemology Space.

Insights Into Legacy: Issues of Handover from a Partner-Initiated Project (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Thorn, E., Spence, J., Koleva, B., & Benford, S. D. (2024, May). Insights Into Legacy: Issues of Handover from a Partner-Initiated Project. Presented at CHI '24: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Honolulu HI USA

We report on a six-year collaboration with a small community organisation to develop and deploy a permanent physical / digital locative media experience as part on an ongoing community regeneration project. We describe how this unfolded over four pha... Read More about Insights Into Legacy: Issues of Handover from a Partner-Initiated Project.

The Purr-suit of Happiness: A Tale of Three Kittens, Robots, Humans, Cats, and AI (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Schneiders, E., Benford, S., Row Farr, J., Tandavanitj, N., & Adams, M. (2024, March). The Purr-suit of Happiness: A Tale of Three Kittens, Robots, Humans, Cats, and AI. Presented at HRI '24: ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, Boulder CO USA

This paper showcases Cat Royale, an exploration of the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on animal happiness situated at the intersection of Art, Computer Science, and Animal Welfare. We argue for the inclusion of non-human actors when designing... Read More about The Purr-suit of Happiness: A Tale of Three Kittens, Robots, Humans, Cats, and AI.

Cat Royale (2024)
Other
Schneiders, E., Benford, S., Tandavanitj, N., Adams, M., & Farr, J. R. (2024). Cat Royale

Would you let a robot care for your pet? Blast Theory’s Cat Royale explores the impact of AI on humans and animals. For 12 days, Ghostbuster, Pumpkin, and Clover played with a robot arm that offered them games, toys, and treats every few minutes. The... Read More about Cat Royale.

Exploring Effects of a Nostalgic Storytelling Virtual Reality Experience Beyond Hedonism (2023)
Journal Article
Huang, Y., Benford, S., Spence, J., & Blake, H. (2024). Exploring Effects of a Nostalgic Storytelling Virtual Reality Experience Beyond Hedonism. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 27(3), 221-226. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2023.0183

In this study, we tested the effect of a nostalgic storytelling virtual reality (VR) experience (vs. a text-reading neutral VR experience as the comparison condition) on state-level eudaimonic well-being and explored the underlying mediating mechanis... Read More about Exploring Effects of a Nostalgic Storytelling Virtual Reality Experience Beyond Hedonism.

The Stretchy Strap: supporting encumbered interaction with guitars (2023)
Journal Article
Martinez Avila, J., Hazzard, A., Greenhalgh, C., Benford, S., & McPherson, A. (2023). The Stretchy Strap: supporting encumbered interaction with guitars. Journal of New Music Research, 52(1), 19-40. https://doi.org/10.1080/09298215.2023.2274832

Guitarists struggle to play their instruments while simultaneously using additional computing devices (i.e., encumbered interaction). We explored designs with guitarists through co-design and somaesthetic design workshops, learning that they (unsurpr... Read More about The Stretchy Strap: supporting encumbered interaction with guitars.

FUTURE MACHINE: Making Myths & Designing Technology for a Responsible Future: Making Myths and Entanglement: Community engagement at the edge of participatory design and user experience (2023)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Jacobs, R., Spence, J., Abbott, F., Chamberlain, A., Heim, W., Yemaoua Dayo, A., Kemp, D., Benford, S., Price, D., Shackford, R., Robson, J., Locke, C., & King, J. (2023, October). FUTURE MACHINE: Making Myths & Designing Technology for a Responsible Future: Making Myths and Entanglement: Community engagement at the edge of participatory design and user experience. Presented at Mindtrek '23: 26th International Academic Mindtrek Conference, Tampere, Finland

This paper explores the unique methods and strategies employed by a team of artists, in collaboration with engineers, programmers, a climate scientist, researchers and members of the public, who have come together to create the Future Machine, with t... Read More about FUTURE MACHINE: Making Myths & Designing Technology for a Responsible Future: Making Myths and Entanglement: Community engagement at the edge of participatory design and user experience.

Examining the Use of Autonomous Systems for Home Health Support Using a Smart Mirror (2023)
Journal Article
Dowthwaite, L., Reyes Cruz, G., Pena, A. R., Pepper, C., Jäger, N., Barnard, P., Hughes, A.-M., das Nair, R., Crepaz-Keay, D., Cobb, S., Lang, A., & Benford, S. (2023). Examining the Use of Autonomous Systems for Home Health Support Using a Smart Mirror. Healthcare, 11(19), Article 2608. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11192608

The home is becoming a key location for healthcare delivery, including the use of technology driven by autonomous systems (AS) to monitor and support healthcare plans. Using the example of a smart mirror, this paper describes the outcomes of focus gr... Read More about Examining the Use of Autonomous Systems for Home Health Support Using a Smart Mirror.

Human-AI Musicking: A Framework for Designing AI for Music Co-creativity (2023)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Vear, C., Benford, S., Avila, J. M., & Moroz, S. (2023, August). Human-AI Musicking: A Framework for Designing AI for Music Co-creativity. Presented at Artificial Intelligence and Music Creativity 2023, Sussex University

In this paper, we present a framework for understanding human-AI musicking. This framework prompts a series of questions for reflecting on various aspects of the creative interrelationships between musicians and AI and thus can be used as a tool for... Read More about Human-AI Musicking: A Framework for Designing AI for Music Co-creativity.

Five Provocations for a More Creative TAS (2023)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Benford, S., Hazzard, A., Vear, C., Webb, H., Chamberlain, A., Greenhalgh, C., Ramchurn, R., & Marshall, J. (2023, July). Five Provocations for a More Creative TAS. Presented at First International Symposium on Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS 23), Edinburgh, UK

Conventional wisdom has it that trustworthy autonomous systems (AS) should be explainable, dependable, controllable and safe tools for humans to use. Reflecting on a portfolio of artistic applications of TAS leads us adopt an alternative stance and t... Read More about Five Provocations for a More Creative TAS.

TAS for Cats: An Artist-led Exploration of Trustworthy Autonomous Systems for Companion Animals (2023)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Schneiders, E., Chamberlain, A., Fischer, J. E., Benford, S., Castle-Green, S., Ngo, V., Kucukyilmaz, A., Barnard, P., Row Farr, J., Adams, M., Tandavanitj, N., Devlin, K., Mancini, C., & Mills, D. (2023, July). TAS for Cats: An Artist-led Exploration of Trustworthy Autonomous Systems for Companion Animals. Presented at First International Symposium on Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS 23), Edinburgh, UK

Cat Royale is an artist-led exploration of trustworthy autonomous systems (TAS) created by the TAS Hub's creative ambassadors Blast Theory. A small community of cats inhabits a purpose built 'cat utopia' at the centre of which a robot arm tries to en... Read More about TAS for Cats: An Artist-led Exploration of Trustworthy Autonomous Systems for Companion Animals.

Examining the Use of Autonomous Systems for Home Health Support using a Smart Mirror (2023)
Preprint / Working Paper
Dowthwaite, L., Reyez Cruz, G., Pena, A. R., Pepper, C., Jäger, N., Barnard, P., Hughes, A.-M., Nair, R. D., Crepaz-Keay, D., Cobb, S., & Benford, S. Examining the Use of Autonomous Systems for Home Health Support using a Smart Mirror

The home is becoming a key location for healthcare delivery, including the use of technology driven by autonomous systems (AS) to monitor and support healthcare plans. Using the example of a smart mirror, this paper describes the outcomes of focus gr... Read More about Examining the Use of Autonomous Systems for Home Health Support using a Smart Mirror.

Explainable AI for the Arts: XAIxArts (2023)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Bryan-Kinns, N., Ford, C., Chamberlain, A., Benford, S. D., Kennedy, H., Li, Z., Qiong, W., Xia, G. G., & Rezwana, J. (2023, June). Explainable AI for the Arts: XAIxArts. Presented at 15th Conference on Creativity and Cognition (C&C 23), New York, NY

This first workshop on explainable AI for the Arts (XAIxArts) brings together a community of researchers and creative practitioners in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Interaction Design, AI, explainable AI (XAI), and Digital Arts to explore the rol... Read More about Explainable AI for the Arts: XAIxArts.

Infrastructures for Virtual Volunteering at Online Music Festivals (2023)
Journal Article
Benford, S., Manninen, K., Martindale, S., Hazzard, A., Avila, J. P. M., Tennent, P., Spence, J., Castle-Green, T., Brundell, P., Barnard, P., & Darzentas, D. P. (2023). Infrastructures for Virtual Volunteering at Online Music Festivals. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 7(CSCW1), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1145/3579498

Volunteering benefits recipients, volunteers, communities, and society, while digital technologies establish new opportunities for virtual volunteering. We describe how volunteers transitioned the UK's long-established Oxjam grassroots music festival... Read More about Infrastructures for Virtual Volunteering at Online Music Festivals.

Feasibility and acceptability of an Internet of Things-enabled sedentary behavior intervention: mixed-methods study (2023)
Journal Article
Huang, Y., Benford, S., Price, D., Li, B., & Blake, H. (2023). Feasibility and acceptability of an Internet of Things-enabled sedentary behavior intervention: mixed-methods study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 25, Article e43502. https://doi.org/10.2196/43502

Background:

Encouraging office workers to break up prolonged sedentary behavior (SB) at work with regular micro-breaks can be beneficial yet challenging. Internet of Things (IoT) offers great promise for delivering more subtle and hence acceptable... Read More about Feasibility and acceptability of an Internet of Things-enabled sedentary behavior intervention: mixed-methods study.