Paul invited to the SIGCHI Futures Summit
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.
News
Research, people, events, and updates from senSInt.
Faster Than Muscle accepted at SIGGRAPH Asia
Our paper Faster Than Muscle has also been accepted as a Demonstration at SIGGRAPH Asia 2026 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia! The work explores how muscle signals can be used to execute actions faster than the human body, and how this affects our sense of agency.
A group retreat at the Saarschleife
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.
Easa to co-chair papers at Augmented Humans 2027
Easa AliAbbasi has been appointed Paper Co-Chair of Augmented Humans 2027, taking place in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in March 2027!
Paul to co-chair NIME 2027 in Paris
Paul Strohmeier will co-chair NIME 2027 in Paris, together with Sofy Yuditskaya and Xiao Xiao. The conference theme is “Sensorial Symbiosis: Bodies, Machines, and Time”.
Faster Than Muscle accepted at UIST
Our paper Faster Than Muscle has been accepted at UIST 2026! The work explores how voluntary muscle signals can be used to execute actions faster than the human body, and how this affects our sense of agency.
Student-built instruments on stage in Saarbrücken
Students from our Audio Devices: Synthesis, Control & Performance course presented their self-built electronic musical instruments and performed live at the Nacht der Schönen Künste in Saarbrücken! See the instruments.
A textile sensor for subtle body movements
Left: the measuring rig. Right: Easa demonstrating the all-textile sensor.
Our paper An All-Textile, Mechano-Capacitive Subtle Movement Sensor, by Easa AliAbbasi, Rachel Freire, Valentin Martinez-Missir, Lakshmi Vineetha Rallabandi, and Paul Strohmeier, has been published in Advanced Functional Materials! The work introduces a robust, high-precision textile sensor capable of detecting subtle bodily movements, including breathing.
HapticCompass is a EuroHaptics demo award finalist
Wanhui Li, Easa AliAbbasi, and Paul Strohmeier’s HapticCompass was selected as a finalist for the Best Demo Award at EuroHaptics 2026 in Siena, Italy!
Designing sensorimotor experiences: invited talk in Stuttgart
Paul gave an invited talk, Shaping Experience by Designing for Sensorimotor Contingencies, at VIS/VISUS, University of Stuttgart, hosted by Dieter Schmalstieg.
Paul joins the TRACTION workshop in Copenhagen
Paul doing what he does best.
Paul was invited to the TRACTION workshop in Copenhagen, joining researchers for discussions about the future of interaction.
Two Best Paper Awards at CHI 2026
CHI 2026 Best Paper Awards for Scene2Hap (left) and How are Vibrotactile Experiences Visually Represented? (right).
We received two Best Paper Awards at CHI 2026! Congratulations to Easa AliAbbasi and Dennis Wittchen and all collaborators for their work on Scene2Hap and the visual representation of vibrotactile experiences.
Congratulations to Dr. Yuran Ding
Congratulations to Yuran Ding on successfully defending her PhD thesis “Mediating Complexity: Reasoning Layers from Embodied Interaction to Agentic Systems” at the University of Maryland!
Co-chairing Augmented Humans 2026 in Okinawa
Paul Strohmeier co-chaired Augmented Humans 2026 in Okinawa, Japan, together with Kouta Minamizawa, Shunichi Kasahara, and Yomna Abdelrahman.
Congratulations to Dr. Nihar Sabnis
Congratulations to Nihar Sabnis on successfully defending his PhD thesis “Re-envisioning Touch: Designing Embodied Material and Force Experiences with Motion-Coupled Vibrotactile Feedback” at Saarland University, receiving the distinction summa cum laude!
Hands-on haptics at German Unity Day
Dennis demonstrated our haptic technology at the German Unity Day celebrations. Visitors could try the devices and experience touch feedback for themselves.
Yuran receives an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Congratulations to Yuran Ding on receiving a prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship! The fellowship supports outstanding graduate researchers with three years of funding.
Wanhui joins as a visiting PhD student
Wanhui Li is a visiting PhD student from the University of Tokyo
senSInt at CHI in Yokohama
We joined CHI 2025 in Yokohama, Japan, to share our research and meet the HCI community.
A walk up to the Schwarzenbergturm
A group outing to the Schwarzenbergturm, overlooking campus.
Nihar receives an Honourable Mention at TEI
Nihar received an Honourable Mention at TEI 2025 for Foot Pedal Control: The Role of Vibrotactile Feedback in Performance and Perceived Control. Congratulations to the team!
Prototyping at Imogen Heap’s barn
Developing prototypes together at Imogen’s barn.
Valentin, Gaby and Paul visited Imogen Heap’s barn from 21–24 November 2024 to experiment with wearable headsets and musical interaction. The visit combined hands-on development with improvisation and discussion.
ERC Starting Grant for Kinesthetic Displays
Paul received an ERC Starting Grant, supporting senSInt research with 1.5 million Euro.
Three demonstrations at EuroHaptics 2024
Left: Yuran demonstrating Motionless Movement. Right: Gaby and Nihar in front of Nihar’s haptic symbol design strategies poster.
We presented three demos at EuroHaptics 2024 in Lille: Gaby demonstrated VariTouch, Yuran demonstrated Motionless Movement, and Nihar demonstrated haptic symbol design strategies.
Yuran speaks to undergraduates at UNIST
Yuran Ding gave a talk to undergraduates at UNIST.
Fellowship and travel award news for Gabriela
Gabriela Vega got accepted as a Fellow to attend the 10th Heidelberg Laureate Forum. She also won a Travel Award to attend UBICOMP/ISWC 2024 in Cancun, Mexico!
Haptics talks at Goldsmiths and King’s College London
Paul Strohmeier and Nihar Sabnis gave talks at Goldsmiths (hosted by Yoram Chisik) and Kings College (hosted by Andrew MacPherson) in the UK.
Hosting German Pre-CHI in Saarbrücken
We hosted German Pre-CHI in April 2024 in collaboration with the HCI Lab.
Nihar speaks at the Austrian Institute of Technology
Nihar Sabnis gave a talk at Austrian Institute of Technology.
Papers, workshops and performance at TEI 2024
The group attended TEI 2024 and presented 1 paper, 2 WIP, 1 performance, and 1 workshop!
Nihar leads workshops at IIT Jodhpur
Nihar Sabnis conducted three workshops at IIT Jodhpur in December 2023 and January 2024.
A group snapshot in September
A snapshot of the senSInt team at the institute.
Welcoming Yuran, Rachel and Konrad
We are having an exciting research summer. Yuran Ding is joining as a PhD student, Rachel Freire is joining to work on new wearable interactive garment interfaces, and Konrad Fabian will be applying his experience in generative modeling to our projects.
Jun Nishida visits senSInt
We welcomed Jun Nishida for a visit and a chance to exchange ideas about human–computer interaction.
Three papers at CHI in Hamburg
We presented three papers at CHI 2023 in Hamburg. Paul was very grateful for the amazing childcare that CHI organized that year (and Rosa too).
Co-hosting the Sustainable Haptic Design workshop
The senSInt team co-hosted the Sustainable Haptic Design Workshop at CHI this year. Exciting keynote talks by Eric Vezzoli, Vincent Levesque, & Hasti Seifi.
Courtney and Paul perform at Augmented Humans
Courtney and Paul did a live music improvisation at the in-person satellite event of this year’s Augmented Humans conference. You can watch and listen on YouTube
An invited guest lecture at MIT
Paul gave an invited course guest lecture on senSInt research at the MIT Media Lab, hosted by Hiroshi Ishii. A video of his talk is on YouTube
Our first group retreat at Dagstuhl
Prototyping low-vision treasure hunting in the dark with Jürgen Steimle’s HCI group.
Our first group retreat brought senSInt together with Jürgen Steimle’s HCI group at Dagstuhl. Together, we prototyped low-vision treasure hunting in the dark.
Sensorimotor Augmentation at the Assistive Augmentation Symposium
Paul has been invited to present at the Assistive Augmentation Symposium. You can watch his talk on YouTube
Welcoming Courtney, Nihar and Dennis
Over the course of the next months, Courtney Reed (PostDoc), Nihar Sabnis (PhD Student), and Dennis Wittchen (Visiting Researcher) will be joining senSInt.
senSInt joins the Max Planck Institute for Informatics
The Sensorimotor Interaction group joins the Max Planck Institute for Informatics.