Dr Freddie Hong

I have taught across a range of institutions in London, delivering both creative and technical modules. My teaching practice emphasises the integration of critical thinking with practical skills, encouraging students to play, experiment, challenge conventions and develop confidence with emerging tools. I have guided students from diverse backgrounds through subjects including electronic art, computational media and creative technologies. In addition, I have supervised research students in carrying out scientific inquiries, exploring novel techniques and publishing their work within academic communities.

Course director

• Interaction Design BA (Hons)

My research lies at the intersection of Human–Computer Interaction, fabrication and robotics, with a focus on hardware development and novel interaction methods. Until recently I was a member of the Creative Robotics and Future Technologies group at Microsoft Research Cambridge, where my work centred on robotics and the design of automation systems for maintaining data centres, which are vital to the development of future AI infrastructures. I have published this research in flagship academic venues including the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), the ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles (SOSP) and ACM Transactions on Storage.

My doctoral work at the Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London addressed the democratisation of hardware and the development of new user interfaces for designing and controlling 3D printers. As lead author, I published in flagship venues such as the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), the Elsevier journal Additive Manufacturing and SpringerNature Computer Science. A central outcome of my doctoral research was Open5x, an open-source five-axis 3D printing system that enabled individuals to explore multi-axis printing, a technology previously regarded as prohibitively expensive and inaccessible. I also applied five-axis printing to the fabrication of electronic boards, contributing to research on 3D-printed electrical objects and demonstrating new methods for producing curved circuit boards.

You can find a full list of my publications on Google Scholar.

Specialisms

• Human-Computer-Interaction
• Robotics
• Fabrication

Parallel to my technical research, I maintain an artistic practice that explores the artistic potential of emerging technologies.

My practice engages with contemporary questions in digital technology and artificial intelligence through interactive artworks that invite audiences to engage with intelligent systems and reflect on how these technologies influence perception, behaviour and social dynamics. Informed by lived experience, my work foregrounds what it means to be human in an increasingly automated world, emphasising the role of bodies, emotions and relationships in our encounters with machines. My installations create embodied experiences, acting as both witness and participant, where audiences negotiate meaning with and through AI. I have exhibited at various venues including the International Symposium on Electronic and Emerging Art (ISEA), the London Festival of Architecture and the Peckham Digital Festival.

More about my practice can be found at www.freddiehong.com.