Collaborative autonomy through ambient communication hub - COACH
COACH explores how people can better understand and influence autonomous energy systems. Through the Lucci device and a human-centered design approach, the project turns complex energy decisions into simple ambient signals, helping communities engage more directly with renewable energy and the transition toward shared, sustainable autonomy.
COACH investigates a practical way for citizens to relate to autonomous energy systems by making their actions visible and understandable. Today, many decisions in distributed energy networks happen out of sight, and this often limits trust and participation. The project responds to this issue by developing Lucci, a small ambient device that translates system behaviour into clear light, haptic, and audio cues.
The work is carried out over six months at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and brings together user research, explainable AI, and sustainable hardware development. Early activities focus on interviews and co-design sessions that help identify how people interpret energy information and what they need in order to feel in control of automated decisions. These insights guide the design of a communication language that allows Lumina to convey the reasoning behind system choices in an intuitive way.
As the prototype becomes technically and materially refined, it is tested with local participants who provide feedback on clarity, usefulness, and acceptance. The project concludes with an integrated system, open-source fabrication guidelines, and a structured methodology that can support similar initiatives across Europe.
About
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Team biography
Multidisciplinary and end-to-end expertise across service design, technology, energy, legal and operational domains. A streamlined structure supports transparent decision-making, privacy-by-design practices, and iterative development. The team’s strength in this context is its capacity to integrate engineering and artistic competencies, producing results that are technically rigorous, thoughtfully designed, and socially grounded.
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Team member list
- Alessandro Berruti, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Co-Founder;
- Francesco Viggiano, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Co-Founder;
- Marco Visione, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Co-Founder;
- Andrea Anchora, Branding & UI Designer;
- Francesco Provenzano (Artist/Creative partner);
- Mirco Zancone (Artist/Creative partner Team);
- Edoardo Biagioni, Creative partner Team, Junior Design Collaborator;
- Davide Franceschelli, Creative partner Team, Junior Design Collaborator;
- Prof. Ursula Damm, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar – Professor;
- Mindaugas Gapševičius, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar - Research Assistant;
- Alessandro Volpato, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar - Research Assistant;
- Felix Bonowski, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar - Research Assistant.
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Useful links
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Alessandro Berruti Biography
Alessandro Berruti, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Co-Founder:
Guides strategic vision and partnerships, translating Enercade’s research and development efforts into actionable frameworks for energy communities. Oversees device evolution and cross-sector collaborations relevant to autonomous energy systems. -
Francesco Viggiano Biography
Francesco Viggiano, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Co-Founder:
Guides the technical vision of the project, designing software architectures and IoT integrations that support reliable and scalable autonomous energy systems. Oversees the development of the digital ecosystem, ensuring data quality, interoperability, and robustness across devices, platforms, and user-facing applications. -
Marco Visione Biography
Marco Visione, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Co-Founder:
Leads operations and energy engineering, translating system strategies into effective real-world implementation. Oversees project execution from planning to daily operations, ensuring operational continuity, feasibility, and measurable results within energy. -
Andrea Anchora Biography
Andrea Anchora, Branding & UI Designer:
Guides the visual identity and interface design of the project, shaping how complex systems are perceived and understood by users. Oversees interface clarity, consistency, and accessibility across touchpoints, maintaining and evolving the design system. -
Francesco Provenzano Biography
Francesco Provenzano (Artist/Creative partner):
Independent freelance Design Director representing the creative and artistic component of the COACH team. With over ten years of experience in strategy, user experience, service design, and inclusive design across multiple industries, he brings an artistic vision to human-centered autonomous system design. As a lecturer in Human Digital Interaction at Politecnico di Torino, he integrates creative approaches with structured design methodologies. -
Mirco Zancone Biography
Mirco Zancone (Artist/Creative partner Team):
Freelance Service and UX Designer with over five years of experience working across corporate and startup contexts, he teaches Service Design and Design Thinking at Politecnico di Torino and Istituto Europeo di Design. Within COACH, he contributes to method and design outputs, translating complex systems into intuitive and accessible user experiences. -
Edoardo Biagioni Biography
Edoardo Biagioni, Creative partner Team - Junior Design Collaborator:
Service designer working at the intersection of human-centered design and complex socio-technical systems. Within COACH, he supports research, co-design activities, and workshop facilitation, contributing to the translation of technical concepts into clear and accessible experiences. -
Davide Franceschelli Biography
Davide Franceschelli, Creative partner Team - Junior Design Collaborator:
Product Interaction and User Experience Designer with a focus on human-centered design for complex systems. Within COACH, he supports research and design activities, contributing to interaction design and community-oriented, phygital experiences. -
Prof. Ursula Damm Biography
Prof. Ursula Damm, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar – Professor:
Ursula Damm is a German media artist and professor at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, exploring interactive art, living environments, and organism-tecnology relations. Manager of the project at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. -
Mindaugas Gapševičius Biography
Mindaugas Gapševičius, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar - Research Assistant:
Mindaugas Gapševičius is an artist and researcher exploring interactions within environments, focussing on relationships across biology, society, and art. Project coordinator, providing consultation on art-related matters at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. -
Alessandro Volpato Biography
Alessandro Volpato, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar - Research Assistant:
Alessandro explores innovative ways to promote sustainability and design with renewable materials. Within the project he supports the part of open source design, and consulting, and testing possible sustainable materials. -
Felix Bonowski Biography
Felix Bonowski, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar - Research Assistant:
Felix Bonowski is a Berlin-based artist and researcher whose work explores form, pattern, and interaction between actors and environments at the intersection of mathematical systems and sensory experience. Provides support in digital and physical computing at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.
