Sensorimotor Interaction Group
The Sensorimotor Interaction Group (senSInt) at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics investigates how human perception and action shape our experience of the world, and how this understanding can inform the design of interactive technologies.
Led by Paul Strohmeier, our research combines human-computer interaction, perceptual science, and engineering. We study how people perceive and act through their bodies, and develop interactive systems that enable new ways of experiencing ourselves, engaging with the physical world, and interacting with technology.
Our work spans haptic rendering, sensorimotor augmentation, embodied interaction, and on-body systems.
We share research facilities with the HCI Lab at Saarland University.
senSInt family at CHI '23
Research
We experience the world through and because of our bodies. Our perception has adapted to respond to relevant information, which we use to actively create our experience of the world. Perception is a process which combines motor (efferent) output with sensory (afferent) input. The motor and sensory elements are inseparable, hence, sensorimotor.
We conduct research on such sensorimotor loops and explore their role in Human Computer Interaction. Our research focuses on understanding these sensorimotor loops themselves, designing how they might be deployed in on-body systems, and creating the technology, materials, and infrastructure for implementing these.
News
October
9th,
2026
Our paper Faster Than Muscle has also been accepted as a Demonstration at SIGGRAPH Asia 2026 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia! The work explores how mu...
October
9th,
2026
Paul Strohmeier has been invited to participate in the SIGCHI Futures Summit 2026 in Paris, November 16–18, to discuss the future of SIGCHI and its conference communities.
September
29th,
2026
The Sensorimotor Interaction Group went on a retreat to the Saarschleife! We spent the day discussing our research, exchanging ideas, and exploring future directions for the group.
Recent Publications
2025: VibRacket: Designing and Experiencing Embodied Vibrotactile Feedback on a Badminton Racket – Nihar Sabnis, Gabriela Vega, Valentin Martinez-Missir, Paul Strohmeier
2025: Haptic Redirection: Modulating Hand Movement Speed with Vibrotactile Feedback – Easa AliAbbasi, Nihar Sabnis, Yuran Ding, Nadine Wagener, Paul Strohmeier
2025: Sensorimotor Devices: Coupling Sensing and Actuation to Augment Bodily Experience – Paul Strohmeier, Laia Turmo Vidal, Gabriela Vega, Courtney N. Reed, Alex Mazursky, Easa AliAbbasi, Ana Tajadura-Jiménez, Jürgen Steimle
2025: Physical Compliance and the Compliance Illusion: The Importance of Action for Perception – Easa AliAbbasi, Dennis Wittchen, Gabriela Vega, Paul Strohmeier
2025: Motion-Coupled Asymmetric Vibration for Pseudo Force Rendering in Virtual Reality – Nihar Sabnis, Maelle Roche, Dennis Wittchen, Donald Degraen, Paul Strohmeier
View Publications
