GEISTHuman-Centered Information Systems · TU Clausthal

DIS 2026 · conference

Floating Companion: Exploring Design Space for Soft Floating Robots in Indoor Environments

Mingyang Xu, Yanheng Li, Burcu Nimet Dumlu, RAY LC, Giulia Barbareschi, Matthias Hoppe, Jie Li, Kouta Minamizawa, Kai Kunze

Venue
Proceedings of the 2026 Designing Interactive Systems Conference
Year
2026 · conference
Pages
3377–3396
DOI
10.1145/3800645.3813051
Key
xu2026floating

Best Paper Award, ACM DIS 2026

Summary

Best Paper Award, DIS 2026: a design space with ten dimensions for soft, helium-filled floating robots that live with people indoors, informed by 12 experts and proof-of-concept prototypes.

Also on kaikunze.de

BibTeX

.bib file
@inproceedings{xu2026floating,
    author = "Xu, Mingyang and Li, Yanheng and Dumlu, Burcu Nimet and LC, RAY and Barbareschi, Giulia and Hoppe, Matthias and Li, Jie and Minamizawa, Kouta and Kunze, Kai",
    title = "Floating Companion: Exploring Design Space for Soft Floating Robots in Indoor Environments",
    booktitle = "Proceedings of the 2026 Designing Interactive Systems Conference",
    year = "2026",
    pages = "3377--3396",
    doi = "10.1145/3800645.3813051"
}

Related publications

  1. Cuddle-fish: Exploring a soft floating robot with flapping wings for physical interactionsAHs 2025shared topic: Human-robot interaction · shared topic: Soft floating robots · shared project: Floating Companion · co-authors: Mingyang Xu, Giulia Barbareschi, Matthias Hoppe, Kouta Minamizawa · close in time: 2025
  2. Spread Your Wings: Demonstrating a Soft Floating Robotic Avatar with Flapping Wings for Novel Physical InteractionsSIGGRAPH E-Tech 2025shared topic: Human-robot interaction · shared topic: Soft floating robots · shared project: Floating Companion · co-authors: Mingyang Xu, Giulia Barbareschi, Matthias Hoppe, Kouta Minamizawa · close in time: 2025
  3. Affective Wings: Exploring Affectionate Behaviors in Close-Proximity Interactions with Soft Floating RobotsSIGGRAPH Posters 2024shared topic: Human-robot interaction · shared topic: Soft floating robots · shared project: Floating Companion · co-authors: Mingyang Xu, Giulia Barbareschi, Matthias Hoppe, Kouta Minamizawa · close in time: 2024
  4. Embodied Responses to Posthuman Performance: A Mixed-Methods Study of Physiological and Emotional Audience ReactionsAHs 2026co-authors: Mingyang Xu, Giulia Barbareschi, Matthias Hoppe · same year: 2026
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