Hello!

I am Botao ‘Amber’ Hu—call me Amber (him/he).

I'm a PhD candidate in Human Centred Computing at University of Oxford's Department of Computer Science, supervised by Prof. Max Van Kleek. I was also a researcher in the Summer of Protocols.

Research: As a Social Computing researcher, my long-term interest is Cyborg Sociology—the study of societies transformed by human augmentation through Crypto, XR, AI, and other technologies. During my PhD, I focus on Decentralized AI (DeAI)—specifically through Trustworthy Agentic Web, Agent Ethology, and Agentive Commoning. My research applies Protocol Studies, Artificial Life, Collective Intelligence, Trust Systems, Human-AI Symbiosis thinking. I've proposed a Trust Experience Design (TXD) manifesto for distributed autonomous futures. See more here: https://tx.design.

Design: I also work as an Experiential Futures designer across various media, with Mixed Reality as my primary media. I employ diverse design approaches including Speculative Design, Somaesthetic Design, More-Than-Human Design, and Game Design. I direct Reality Design Lab, while I teach Mixed Reality Design at China Academy of Art. See more my design works: https://reality.design. I also invented HoloKit, an open-source mixed reality headset designed for spatial computing education: https://holokit.io.

Google Scholar: Botao 'Amber' Hu LinkedIn: Botao 'Amber' Hu Bluesky: @botao.hu GitHub: botaohu X: @bah_eth

If you're interested in learning more or discussing potential collaborations, please don't hesitate to interact with me.

Research Statement

News:

• [Feb 2026] I started my ERA Fellowship in Cambridge since Feb 2026! Welcome to hang out and work on my insured agents.
• Insured Agents: A Decentralized Trust Insurance Mechanism for Agentic Economy
• [Jan 2026] Two papers accepted at CHI 2026—see you in Barcelona!
1. Protocol Futuring: Speculating Second-Order Dynamics of Protocols in Sociotechnical Infrastructural Futures
2. Nudging the Somas: Exploring How Live-Configurable Mixed Reality Objects Shape Open-Ended Intercorporeal Movements
• [Jan 2026] Two workshop papers presented at AAAI 2026 in Singapore!
1. On Improvisation and Open-Endedness: Insights for Experiential AI
2. Some[Body] Must Receive That Pain: A Position on Agentic Accountability

Research Interests:

Cyborg Sociology

• Pillar 1: Designing Trust After Autonomy
• Trustworthy Agentic Web
• Is Decentralized AI Governable? (2025)
• Is That Agent Credible? (2026) — Some[Body] Must Receive That Pain (2026)
• How Can I Trust That Agents? (2026) — Inter-Agent Trust (2025)
• Would You Vouch for Your Agent? (2026) — Insured Agents (2026)
• Trust Defines Web4 (2026) — Epiplexity of Trust (2026)
• Agentive Commoning
• Serendipity at Edge (2026) — Social Layer (2025)
• Trustless Autonomy (2026)
• VitaMeme (2026)
• Agentic Serendipity (2026)
• Agentic Access (2026)
• Kami of the Commons (2026)
• Agent Ethology
• Sovereign Agents (2026) — Spore in the Wild (2025)
• Parasitic Agents (2026)
• Mortal Agents (2026)
• Soulbound Agents (2026)
• Unstoppable Nature (2024) — EverForest (2024)
• Composable Life (2023) — ERC42424 (2035)
• Pillar 2: Designing Reality Across Umwelten
• More-Than-Human Through Human Augmentation (>HtH+)
• Becoming Bats (2024) — EchoVision (2024)
• Becoming Moles (2025) — FeltSight (2025)
• Entangling Like Mycorrhizae (2026) — FungiSync (2024)
• Moving Like an Octopus (2026) — TentacUs (2025)
• Embodying as AI (2025) — City of Sparkles (2019)
• Embodying the Shoggoth (2026) — AlignMon (2026)
• Protocolizing Mixed Reality (Realverse)
• Mixed Reality Street Play (2025) — MOFA (2023)
• Allow Me Into Your Dream (2026) — TouchPort (2026)
• Leak from Otherworld (2026) — WhatsReality (2026)
• Just a Glimpse (2026) — HoloMasks (2026)
• Autonomous Realities (2025) — Rockyu (2025)
• Pillar 3: Designing Life for Flourishing
• Protocological Worlding
• Protocol as Poetry (2025)
• Protocol Futuring (2026) — through Social Simulation (2026)
• Understanding Protocol Design (2026)
• Permissionless Life (2026)
• Impact Drift (2026)
• Augmenting the Soma
• Don’t Die! (2026) — Cybroc (2024)
• Nudging the Somas (2026) — GravField (2024)
• Soma Glitching (2026) — Staring as I Glitch (2025)
• Somatic Hieroglyphs (2025) — Body Oracle (2024)
• Seeing the Somadata (2026) — Cell Space (2024)
• On Improvisation and Open-Endedness (2026)

Legend: Full Paper (Year of Publication) — Design Work (Year of Design)