Like cinema or performance, interactive materials can move, breathe, and react, making the invisible dimensions of time, gesture, and intention physically tangible

Amy Winters is an Assistant Professor at TU/e, working at the intersection of interaction design, soft robotics, and materials science. Her research focuses on Material Programming, how programmable, responsive materials such as liquid crystal elastomers, magneto-responsive polymers, and cellulose-based actuators can be integrated into interactive systems that evolve over time and respond reciprocally to interaction.

Her work examines how the material turn in HCI enables dynamic materials to express temporal (change-in-time) behaviors. She draws on theoretical frameworks such as “temporal form” and “tension-and-release,” concepts typically found in time-based media like film, music, dance, and storytelling. This allows her to explore how materials can communicate affect, rhythm, and embodied gesture.

She collaborates with chemists, biomechanical engineers, and interaction designers, bridging material science and design through hands-on prototyping. Her line of research on Material Interaction emphasizes aesthetics, including Performativity and Negative Aesthetics. Based at the Material Aesthetics Lab, her work contributes to the fields of soft robotics and tangible interfaces.

Her work has been featured at Dutch Design Week and IEEE RoboSoft. She has also held curatorial roles as theme lead for Design United, DDW,  Design Exhibition Chair at Textiles Intersections and Robot Design Competition Chair at IEEE RO-MAN. She also mentors students in producing original, narrative-rich outputs through exhibitions, publications, and public platforms.

www.materialaesthetics.com

Amy Winters received a BA in Design for Performance from Central Saint Martins and a PhD in Textiles from the Royal College of Art, London. She founded the interactive materials studio Rainbow Winters (2009–2013), creating responsive garments and installations that react to light, sound, and moisture. She later directed the “Soft Systems” MA pathway at the Royal College of Art. Amy completed a PostDoc at TU/e in 2023 and is now Assistant Professor in Advanced Materials for Interaction Design. Her work has been presented at design and ACM conferences including CHI, DIS, TEI, and Interactions, and in exhibitions such as Dutch Design Week, IEEE RoboSoft, Hacking Arts MIT, and the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago.