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About

Simon Penny is a pioneering figure at the intersection of art, robotics, and embodied cognition. His research fundamentally challenges computationalism, advocating instead for a practice rooted in situated, embodied interaction. Penny’s most influential work, the co-authored book *Mobile Robots: Inspiration to Implementation* (1994, 119 citations), became a foundational text for a generation of roboticists and hobbyists. His artistic practice is equally significant, with installations like *Petit Mal* (1989-1995) and *Sympathetic Sentience* (1996-1997) exploring agency and emergence long before they became mainstream concerns in human-robot interaction. In key papers such as "Art and robotics: sixty years of situated machines" (2012, 27 citations) and "Robotics and Art, Computationalism and Embodiment" (2016, 12 citations), Penny provides a critical historical and theoretical framework for understanding the deep connections between artistic practice and technological development. Through his writings and artworks, Penny has carved out a unique space, demonstrating that art is not merely an application of technology but a vital mode of inquiry into the nature of intelligence, perception, and lived experience.