Being Soft Makes a Difference: An Interview with Cecilia Laschi

Soft robotics is a highly interdisciplinary subfield of technical robotics research that has risen to prominence during the past two decades. In the wake of significant technical advances related to fabrication, soft actuation and sensing technologies, soft materials, soft robot control, and simulation, several artists, designers, and architects have started to appropriate soft robotics technology in their work. In this interview, Jonas Jørgensen discusses the progress and future directions of soft robotics as well as emergent relations between aesthetic practice and soft robotics with Cecilia Laschi, one of the preeminent pioneers of soft robotics. The interview was conducted May 21, 2021 on a video conferencing platform. The transcription has been edited and shortened for brevity and clarity by JJ with contributions from CL.
Cecilia Laschi is full professor at the Mechanical Engineering department at the National University of Singapore. Laschi received the PhD degree in Robotics from the University of Genoa in 1998 and has led several seminal and foundational research projects on soft robotics at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, Italy. Jonas Jørgensen is assistant professor at the Center for Soft Robotics at the University of Southern Denmark and has a background in physics, art history, and interdisciplinary robotics research. His recent work spans technical soft robotics research, human-robot interaction, and practice-based artistic research.