TEDx-talk by Madeline Balaam on Youtube: Designing Care Robots without the ‘Ick’ Factor

Madeline Balaam, Professor at KTH and a Digital Futures faculty member is a pioneering researcher in Interaction Design focusing on health and well-being. Her work centres on creating technologies that resonate with people’s everyday lives, employing participatory and user-centred design methods. For the past decade, Madeline has specialized in the design of intimate technologies—innovative digital solutions that engage with intimate body parts, processes, or relationships.

Leading a dedicated research group, Madeline has re-imagined menstrual technologies with ’Menarche Bits,’ explored the sensory experience of intimate touch with the ’Pelvic Chair,’ and is redefining the digital experience of menopause. Her approach often integrates soma design, which emphasizes the sensory and emotional dimensions of human experience.

In her TEDx talk ”Designing Care Robots without the ‘Ick’ Factor”, Madeline looks towards a probable future of robots in care homes and hospitals, poised to wash, carry and care for our most vulnerable citizens, and asks, in this context, how robots should touch our bodies and what knowledge do we need to develop now to make this potential future as desirable as possible.

“TEDxKTH – our digital futures” was organized by Digital Futures at Ericsson Open Box, Kista, on 3 September 2024.