Human-Robot Experience (HRX) Theatre Workshop

Professor Jonathan Roberts' main research interests are in the areas of Field Robotics, Design Robotics and Medical Robotics. He was a co-inventor of the UAV Challenge, an international flying robot competition. Before joining QUT, Professor Roberts was the Research Director of CSIRO's Autonomous Systems Laboratory where he developed projects in the area of museum robotics and telepresence. Professor Roberts is a Past President of the Australian Robotics & Automation Association, was a member of the Founding Editorial Board of the IEEE Journal of Robotics and Automation Letters and served as a Senior Editor for 5 years. He is the Centre Director of the Australian Cobotics Centre which was established in August 2021 with a focus on the implementation of Collaborative Robotics (or Cobotics) within Australian manufacturing.

Petra Gemeinboeck is an artist and researcher seeking to expand our relations with machines through explorations of embodiment, agency, and performativity. Her research unfolds a speculative, posthuman dramaturgy, bridging dance performance-making, creative robotics, and new materialism. As an ARC Future Fellow (2021-2025), she currently leads the Human-Robot Experience (HRX) project. Previously, she led the FWF PEEK project 'Dancing with the Nonhuman' at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, and the ARC Discovery project 'Performative Body-Mapping' at UNSW. Petra's artworks have been exhibited worldwide, including at MCA Chicago, National Art Museum of China, and Ars Electronica Centre. Prior to joining Swinburne University, Petra was Director of Postgraduate Research and Deputy Director of the Creative Robotics Lab at UNSW Sydney.

Rob Saunders is a computer scientist, design researcher, and artist pioneering research into computational modelling of creativity. As Associate Professor in the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) and a founding member of the Association of Computational Creativity, his mission is to advance the science of computational creativity to benefit society. His research explores intrinsic motivation, emergent languages, and physical embodiment in modelling creative individuals and societies. His collaborative robotic art practice with Petra Gemeinboeck provides a platform for knowledge mobilisation by materially engaging audiences in questions of machine creativity. Their artworks have been exhibited internationally, including at Azkuna Zentroa, Bilbao; the International Triennial of New Media Art, Beijing; and the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane.

Steph Hutchison is an artist-researcher, choreographer, performer, and teaching-artist. She is Senior Lecturer at the School of Creative Arts, Dance, at QUT and has a rich practice as a solo choreographer/performer and collaborator within dance and technology contexts. Informed by motion capture, animation, and robotics, her dance practice generates dialogues with digital technologies and systems. She leads the Experimental Creative Practice research theme at Queensland University of Technology, and previously led the Ars Electronica Futurelab Academy at QUT. In 2022, Steph received a prestigious ANAT Synapse Residency with Jonathan Roberts to develop the Cobotic Improvisations project, co-hosted by the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Hub and the Australian Cobotics Centre

Kristina Mah is an artist, researcher, and karate-ka living and working on Gadigal-Wangal land (inner west Sydney). Born in Manila, Philippines, she is passionate about humanitarianism and environmental stewardship. Her work, inspired by ancient wisdom traditions, emphasizes embodied knowledge and disciplined approaches to investigating human experience. Kristina's creative practice questions notions of self and knowing through explorations of time, space, and relationships. She holds a PhD in human-computer interaction from The University of Sydney and has published in ACM TOCHI, Interactions Magazine, and top-tier HCI conferences. Her artwork has been exhibited in Australia and Singapore.