tactile data translation and parallel interaction in ZOE: a fungal–robotic system
by Noor Stenfert Kroese and Amir Bastan
ZOE brings together reishi mushrooms (Ganoderma lucidum) and a robotic system in a temporary co-existence[1]. Sixteen glass voxels host the fungi, surrounded by sensors and a KUKA robotic arm. ZOE utilises sensors to collect data from the environment and the mycelium of the reishi mushrooms. Every 30 minutes, the system reprioritises and responds: repositioning, misting, adjusting the light. These adaptations result from cumulative changes in the environment rather than isolated triggers. The behaviour of the reishi mushrooms influences the robotic system, which in turn affects the growth and shape of the reishi mushrooms. Over time, this reciprocal influence sculpts the fruiting bodies as traces of their temporary ecosystem.
The fungi and the robot follow different tempos. Their relationship is non-linear and unfolds through ongoing presence, timing, and shifts in context. This reflects what we describe as parallel interaction: where interaction is not merely a discrete event occurring between two or more entities at a specific time. Instead, it is an ongoing process in which multiple and often diverse entities operate simultaneously within the same space, each following their distinct trajectory. These processes can overlap, inspire, or influence one another, leading to adjustments and changes in individual behaviours or outputs.
ZOE at the Ars Electronica 2023
The Mushroom Data Carpets emerged from ongoing research into fungal signalling and sensing. While we can register bioelectrical activity within the mycelium, interpreting these signals remains a central challenge especially when working with organisms that do not express intention or feedback in human-readable ways. The carpets offer another approach. Each carpet draws on a single day of recorded measurements from ZOE, combining environmental parameters with two channels of fungal activity. The data is translated into ring-based diagrams and tufted manually, one carpet per day.
Tufting became a way to stay close to the signals not to interpret them, not for direct interpretation but as a material practice of engagement. The process is repetitive and slow. During live tufting in the exhibition, it introduced another rhythm into the space, unfolding alongside the system. Rather than conventional data visualisation, the Mushroom Data Carpets propose a tactile mode of translation, positioned beside real-time system outputs yet guided by a different register of attention.
Over time, this has developed into an independent method of tactile data visualisation within the ongoing research, a material approach to working with fungal data that continues to evolve. It remains close to the ambiguity and complexity of the signals, without reducing them to fixed meaning. Situated within a growing interest in physical and sensorial approaches to data, this method offers an alternative to conventional visualisation. Physicalisation of data allows for a slower, more reflective mode of engagement,one that can foster a different kind of relationship between researcher, viewer, and data[2], [3], [4].
ZOE is the first step in an ongoing interdisciplinary research at the Creative Robotics lab at the University of Arts Linz called Mycobotics. The research explores how fungi, robotic systems, and humans can interact through parallel, asynchronous, and context-driven processes. Rather than relying on direct input–output feedback, it examines how autonomous agents influence one another indirectly through shared environmental conditions. It explores whether fungal mycelium, through its sensing properties and electrical activity, can function as an active component in real-time robotic systems. By developing sensor interfaces and adaptive robotic behaviours shaped by fungal signals, Mycobotics aims to establish experimental systems in which living organisms and machines operate as co-constitutive agents within responsive environments of sensing, adaptation, and interaction.
The Mushroom Data Carpets emerged from ongoing research into fungal signalling and sensing. While we can register bioelectrical activity within the mycelium, interpreting these signals remains a central challenge especially when working with organisms that do not express intention or feedback in human-readable ways. The carpets offer another approach. Each carpet draws on a single day of recorded measurements from ZOE, combining environmental parameters with two channels of fungal activity. The data is translated into ring-based diagrams and tufted manually, one carpet per day.
Tufting became a way to stay close to the signals not to interpret them, not for direct interpretation but as a material practice of engagement. The process is repetitive and slow. During live tufting in the exhibition, it introduced another rhythm into the space, unfolding alongside the system. Rather than conventional data visualisation, the Mushroom Data Carpets propose a tactile mode of translation, positioned beside real-time system outputs yet guided by a different register of attention.
Over time, this has developed into an independent method of tactile data visualisation within the ongoing research, a material approach to working with fungal data that continues to evolve. It remains close to the ambiguity and complexity of the signals, without reducing them to fixed meaning. Situated within a growing interest in physical and sensorial approaches to data, this method offers an alternative to conventional visualisation. Physicalisation of data allows for a slower, more reflective mode of engagement,one that can foster a different kind of relationship between researcher, viewer, and data[2], [3], [4].
ZOE is the first step in an ongoing interdisciplinary research at the Creative Robotics lab at the University of Arts Linz called Mycobotics. The research explores how fungi, robotic systems, and humans can interact through parallel, asynchronous, and context-driven processes. Rather than relying on direct input–output feedback, it examines how autonomous agents influence one another indirectly through shared environmental conditions. It explores whether fungal mycelium, through its sensing properties and electrical activity, can function as an active component in real-time robotic systems. By developing sensor interfaces and adaptive robotic behaviours shaped by fungal signals, Mycobotics aims to establish experimental systems in which living organisms and machines operate as co-constitutive agents within responsive environments of sensing, adaptation, and interaction.
References
[1] N. Stenfert Kroese and A. Bastan, ZOE. 2022. [Online]. Available: www.stenfertkroese.com/zoe
[2] M. Bleeker, N. Verhoeff, and S. Werning, “Sensing data: Encountering data sonifications, materializations, and interactives as knowledge objects,” Converg. Int. J. Res. New Media Technol., vol. 26, no. 5–6, pp. 1088–1107, Dec. 2020, doi: 10.1177/1354856520938601.
[3] S. Huron, T. Nagel, L. Oehlberg, and W. Willett, Eds., Making with data: physical design and craft in a data- driven world, First edition. in AK Peters visualization series. Boca Raton: AK Peters : CRC Press, 2023.
[4] Y. Jansen, P. Dragicevic, and J.-D. Fekete, “Evaluating the efficiency of physical visualizations,” in Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Paris France: ACM, Apr. 2013, pp. 2593–2602. doi: 10.1145/2470654.2481359.
