Irmandy Wicaksono

Responsive Environments
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  • Research Assistant

PhD Candidate

Irmandy received his M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology from the ETH Zurich. Throughout his graduate and undergraduate studies,  he was involved  in several companies and institutions (StudioXO for Haus of Gaga, Atmel, and KAUST) and in areas such as fashion/wearable technology and consumer electronics, from designing mechatronic dress, spacesuits, to developing stretchable electronic patches and fabrics. His work has been published and featured in various academic journals and conferences, as well as news and media, including IEEE, Nature, CACM, Advanced Materials, Popular Science, Forbes, FastCompany, Quartz, TechCrunch, Dezeen,  Domus Magazine and Wired Italia and presented in Burning Man, SXSW, MIT Museum, Cambridge Science Festival, Boston Fashion Week, Lexus Intersect Tokyo, and the World Economic Forum.

His current interests are the fabrication, manufacturing, and interaction techniques of unconventional electronics for ubiquitous sensing, actuation, and energy harvesting,  at times exploring the creative interplay between art, design, science, an… View full description

PhD Candidate

Irmandy received his M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology from the ETH Zurich. Throughout his graduate and undergraduate studies,  he was involved  in several companies and institutions (StudioXO for Haus of Gaga, Atmel, and KAUST) and in areas such as fashion/wearable technology and consumer electronics, from designing mechatronic dress, spacesuits, to developing stretchable electronic patches and fabrics. His work has been published and featured in various academic journals and conferences, as well as news and media, including IEEE, Nature, CACM, Advanced Materials, Popular Science, Forbes, FastCompany, Quartz, TechCrunch, Dezeen,  Domus Magazine and Wired Italia and presented in Burning Man, SXSW, MIT Museum, Cambridge Science Festival, Boston Fashion Week, Lexus Intersect Tokyo, and the World Economic Forum.

His current interests are the fabrication, manufacturing, and interaction techniques of unconventional electronics for ubiquitous sensing, actuation, and energy harvesting,  at times exploring the creative interplay between art, design, science, and engineering. The integration of soft electronics into common materials results in various applications ranging from health and well-being, rehabilitation, human-computer interfaces,  interactive media, to immersive-built environments. He has been working closely with textile and flexible electronics factories, making a strong connection between research and manufacturing. 

Project Research

Living Knitwork Pavilion

​2023 Burning Man Arts"Once upon a time, in the heart of the Black Rock City desert, a knitted shade structure seamlessly melded ancient an…
Article Research

Smart textiles sense how their users are moving

Researchers develop a comfortable, form-fitting fabric that recognizes its wearer’s activities, like walking, running, and jumping.
Project Research

Peristaltic Suit

It is known that prolonged exposure to micro and hyper-gravity induces various acute health risks, such as osteoporosis, skeletal muscle at…
Article Research

MIT develops machine-washable sensors that embed in clothing for constant vital sign monitoring

Its potential here on Earth has much more widespread benefit potential, particularly in the era of COVID-19.
Post Research

Tapis Magique wins SXSW 2022 Student Innovation Award

Congratulations to project team researchers Irmandy Wicaksono, Don Derek Haddad, and collaborator Loni Landon!
Project Research

A tailored, electronic textile conformable suit for large-scale spatiotemporal physiological sensing in vivo

The rapid advancement of electronic devices and fabrication technologies has further promoted the field of wearables and smart textiles. Ho…
Article Research

Irmandy Wicaksono awarded the 2022 Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Prize in the Visual Arts

I’d like to continue to make these connections, between traditional practices in my country and the things I’ve learned abroad.
Article Research

A fabric that “hears” your heart's sounds

Inspired by the human ear, a new acoustic fabric converts audible sounds into electrical signals.
Project Research

Tapis Magique: A Choreomusical Interactive Carpet

Ancient textiles have played a major role in the social, economic, and religious structures of communities around the world. Iconic, indige…
Project Research

KnittedKeyboard II

Spanning from the early Musical Telegraph and Electronic Sackbut, to the late EMS Synthi AKS and Moog Synthesizers, electronic music and mu…
Post Research

Research at scale

The Hacking Manufacturing program allowed students to gain exposure to the realities of deploying their research outside of academia.
Post Research

Jamming to Knitting, Music to Machines: Bringing interdisciplinary research to the manufacturing ecosystem

Here's my take on the future of textiles, as well as the connection between research and manufacturing.
Publication Research

Electronic Textile Gaia: Ubiquitous Computational Substrates Across Geometric Scales

Wicaksono, I.*, Cherston, J.*, & Paradiso, J. A. (2021). Electronic Textile Gaia: Ubiquitous Computational Substrates Across Geometric Scales. IEEE Pervasive Computing.
Project Research

Saving Face

“Don’t touch your face” is seemingly simple advice. Since coronaviruses are stable for days on many surfaces, a person can get COVID-19 by …
Project Research

E-maki: XR-enabled Scroll for Interactive Museum Artifacts

E-maki is a collection of ancient, painted scrolls accompanied by a cross-reality app that give contextual information and interactive expe…
Article Research

MIT's Experimental Keyboard Is Unlike Any Instrument You've Seen (Or Heard)

In a new project from MIT Media Lab, the FabricKeyboard is an instrument you play by pressing, twisting, pulling and stretching.