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Redström, 2006; 2008; Landin, 2009; Persson, 2013) and architecture (Dumitres- cu, 2013) is explored. Developments in the field of smart textiles have shifted both the functionality and expressions of textiles, from static and passive to dynamic and active (Worbin, 2010; Dumitrescu et al., 2014). The temporal and dynamic aspects of smart textiles and smart materials are therefore a common research interest within the group as well as international, where recent research contributions have challenged commonplace views on materiality and opened the door to programma- ble, responsive and living materials, connecting to the comparatively new research field of active matter and biodesign. Here, inputs from information technology and computation, biotechnology and biology, and contemporary materialist philosophies lead to interdisciplinary approaches and emerging materials (Tibbits, 2017; Kretzer, 2017; Bogiatzakē, 2018).
I like the idea of ‘active matter’ as a way to talk about bio-design and living materials
Utilising the morphology of plants in order to communicate and work with them is an approach that is also used by Flora Robotica. The project incorporates the fields of computer science, robotics, molecular and cellular biology, zoology, advanced mechatronics, environmental sensing, and architecture, and so takes a highly inter- disciplinary approach to investigating and creating societies of symbiotic robot-plant bio-hybrids. Due to their synergies, these hybrids bring new perspectives to plants and robots, and expand the functionality of both with regard to e.g. creating alter- native architectural design opportunities such as architectural artefacts and living spaces. Hamann et al. (2015) use robotically braided structures to guide the growth of plants through artificial stimuli. The resulting symbiotic relationship between robots and natural plants can be used to manufacture walls, roofs, and benches over time.
THINKING RESEARCH 