Bio-Robotics

When Biology Meets Technology Through Art & Design

Body Beyond

What if you could sense magnetic fields like a bird? Grow your own wearables from living materials? Co-create with silkworms and mycelium? Explore the intersection of living systems and technology through the eyes of artists, designers, and visionaries reimagining what it means to be alive.

01

FundamentalsAvailable

What does it mean to be alive when biology and technology merge? Explore through art, not engineering.

Body as Architecture

Your body is not a fixed form—it's a designed space. Explore Madeline Schwartzman's approach to wearables, prosthetics, and sensory extensions that redefine embodiment.

Living Materials

Materials that grow, heal, and respond. Learn Neri Oxman's Material Ecology—co-fabricating with silkworms, mycelium, and bacterial cellulose.

Augmented Sensing

Beyond five senses. Explore echolocation, magnetoreception, infrared vision—wearables that give you new ways to perceive the world.

Transgenic Art & Bio-Art

Living sculptures and bio-designed organisms. Eduardo Kac's glowing rabbit, tissue-engineered art, and the ethics of creating life.

Soft Robotics & Bio-Inspired Design

Robots that move like octopuses and grow like plants. Why "soft" matters—safety, adaptability, organic movement inspired by nature.

Post-Human Futures

Stelarc's Third Hand and body modifications. What happens when humans evolve through technology? Exploring obsolescence and enhancement.

02

ReadingsAvailable

Curated writings from artists, philosophers, and designers exploring bio-robotics through humanistic lens—not textbooks.

Foundational Manifestos

Donna Haraway's "Cyborg Manifesto," Stelarc's "Obsolete Body," writings that shaped how we think about technology and embodiment.

Bio-Art & Design Books

Madeline Schwartzman's "See Yourself Sensing" and "Alive," William Myers' "Bio Design," MoMA's "Broken Nature" exhibition catalog.

Material Futures

Neri Oxman's Material Ecology papers, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg's "Better," research on bio-textiles and living architecture.

Ethics & Philosophy

Michael Sandel on enhancement, Margaret Atwood's bio-futures, Eugene Thacker's "Biomedia," body hacking philosophy.

Sensation & Perception

Oliver Sacks' neurological tales, David Eagleman on brain plasticity, James Gibson's perceptual systems.

Speculative Design

Dunne & Raby's "Speculative Everything," design fiction, futures thinking, and technological speculation.

03

FlashcardsAvailable

52 thought-provoking concepts with examples and questions—not technical definitions, but ideas to spark wonder.

Body Concepts (15 cards)

Proprioception, phantom limbs, embodied cognition, body schema, prosthetic memory, cyborgs, posthuman, body architecture.

Living Systems (15 cards)

Transgenic art, bio-fabrication, mycelium networks, spider silk, synthetic biology, living architecture, tissue engineering.

Soft Robotics (10 cards)

Soft actuators (muscles made of air), biomimetic robots, compliant mechanisms, wearable exosuits.

Sensing & Perception (12 cards)

Umwelt, synesthesia, echolocation, sensory augmentation, haptic technology, telepresence, embodiment.

04

Field KitAvailable

Creative resources for exploration, speculation, and making—no engineering degree required.

Speculative Design Tools

Design fiction templates, future scenario worksheets, body extension brainstorming cards, "what if" generators.

DIY Bio-Material Recipes

Kitchen-safe recipes: grow kombucha leather, make algae bioplastic, cultivate bacterial cellulose, build mycelium bricks.

Artist Studios & Labs

Follow SymbioticA, Blast Studio (Neri Oxman), Faber Futures, bio-art labs, and pioneering artists to watch.

Exhibitions & Communities

Must-visit shows, bio-hacker spaces (non-technical welcome), Ars Electronica, design residencies, online galleries.

Body Design Templates

Body mapping worksheets, sensory extension sketches, prosthetic imagination exercises, body architecture drawings.

All Field Kit Resources

Complete collection of tools, recipes, artist resources, and design templates for bio-robotics exploration.

05

ActivitiesAvailable

Create, speculate, question—hands-on projects and thought experiments for artists, designers, and curious minds.

No-Code Making (4 projects)

Grow your own wearable, design a sixth sense device, body mapping & sensory architecture, living system co-creation with mycelium.

Design Exercises (2 exercises)

Bio-ethics futures workshop, material storytelling—practice thinking like a bio-robotics designer.

Collaborative Scenarios (2 scenarios)

Bio-design ethics committee simulation, post-human fashion week—group activities for workshops and classrooms.

Case Studies (5 pioneers)

Stelarc's Third Hand, Kac's GFP Bunny, Oxman's Silk Pavilion, Neil Harbisson's antenna, Amy Karle's growing bones.

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