A Third Hand – Creative Applications for Robotics

Year: 2026
Institution: Triest Verlag
Zurich, CH

Research project: A Third Hand – Creative Applications for Robotics, ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne
Director, ECAL: Alexis Georgacopoulos
Head of R&D, ECAL: Davide Fornari
Head of research project: Alain Bellet
Research team: Andrea Anner (AATB), Jonas Berthod, Thibault Brevet (AATB), Martin Hertig, Matthieu Minguet (ECAL Technology Centre)
Invited artists and designers: Jussi Ängeslevä, Niklas Hagemann, Taiyo Onorato, Pinaffo & Pluvinage (Marion Pinaffo and Raphaël Pluvinage), Varvara & Mar (Mar Canet Sola and Varvara Guljajeva)
Supported by: ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne, HES-SO/University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland
Edited by: Alain Bellet and AATB
With contributions by: Andrea Anner, Alain Bellet, Thibault Brevet, Madeline Gannon, Ken Goldberg, Fabio Gramazio, Martin Hertig, Motoi Ishibashi, Matthias Kohler
Editing: Louis Nguyen
Proofreading: Jo Heinrich
Transcriptions: Andrea Anner, Alain Bellet, Barbara Markowiak
Graphic design: Adeline Mollard
Typefaces: Garamond Corporate (Lineto), UN-11 (Source Type), Fragment Mono (Wei Huang)
Papers: Magno Volume 100 g/m², Recystar Nature 80 g/m², Lessebo Granite 160 g/m²
Lithography: Roger Emmenegger, Datatype Lausanne
Printing and binding: KOPA, Vilnius
Publisher: Triest Verlag für Architektur, Design und Typografie, Zurich

third-hand.xyz
ECAL research project

A Third Hand – Creative Applications for Robotics is the printed publication of the ECAL research project of the same name (2022–2023), on how designers and artists can work with collaborative robot arms. The research project was conducted at ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne, Switzerland, by AATB (Andrea Anner and Thibault Brevet), Alain Bellet and Martin Hertig.

The book gathers the project’s six experiments: Live Tracking with Varvara & Mar, Ice Milling with Jussi Ängeslevä, Light Painting with Taiyo Onorato, Gripping with Niklas Hagemann and Spray Painting with Pinaffo & Pluvinage, each proposed by the invited artists and designers and developed with the research team, and the Production Line workshop with ECAL students.

It also brings together conversations with Madeline Gannon, Ken Goldberg, Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler, and Motoi Ishibashi of Rhizomatiks.

The book is designed by Adeline Mollard and published by Triest Verlag. The website third-hand.xyz gives an introduction to robotics for non-experts, presents the six experiments, the Tool Library and An Armful of Projects, a curated, non-exhaustive collection of projects involving robotic arms in art and design.