Ryo Suzuki | University of Calgary Assistant Professor

Ryo Suzuki
University of Calgary, Assistant Professor in Computer Science

I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary in the Department of Computer Science. I am part of HCI Group at UCalgary.

I am actively looking for prospective PhD students, PostDocs, or Student Interns, who are interested in joining or collaborating with us, across disciplines (e.g., Industrial Design, Mechanical Engineering, Material Science, Electrical Engineering, Architectural Design, and Computer Science). If you are interested, please feel free to send me an email. We could start from some possible collaborative projects. :)

My research interest lies on the intersection at Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). I direct Programmable Reality Lab at the University of Calgary, where we try to blend digital and physical worlds by exploring novel interactions for AR/VR, Tangible UI, and AI.

Previously, I was a PhD student at the University of Colorado Boulder, advised by Daniel Leithinger and Mark D. Gross in THING Lab and Human-Computer Interaction Group

From Tools for Thought to Space for Thought

Mission

Augment Human Thought and Creativity
with the Power of AR and AI

by Transforming the Everyday Environment into a Dynamic Space for Thought


Computers are dynamic media. Much like writing systems, the printing press, and painting canvases, they empower and amplify human thought and creativity. This medium, however, is currently confined within the boundaries of flat rectangular screens, restricting our minds and creative potential to what can be done in this small space. Our goal is to redesign this medium to unlock the full potential of human capabilities, by transforming our world itself into a computational medium with the power of AR and AI.

Principles

Blended

Should Work with Real, Tangible Objects in the Real World, not Virtual Objects on Screens or in VR
Humans have developed tangible and spatial abilities. Media should leverage these innate human capabilities, instead of requiring humans to adapt to media’s capabilities.

Dynamic

Should Leverage Dynamic and Explorable Representations, not Static and Passive Ones
Human thought and creative process is fluid. Media should harness this dynamic and explorable potential, beyond merely watching and consuming static text or passive content.

Pervasive

Should Work with Every Single Space, Object, and Environment, On-the-Fly and On-Demand
Tangible user interfaces exist over decades, but only in research labs. It is time to make them accessible, adaptable, and deployable to everywhere for everyone with the power of AI.

Umbrella Themes

Augmented Languages

Reinvent Languages for Spatial Computing Era
We redsign "languages", including written, spoken, and visual languages, to empower human-to-human communication

― Dynamic Media for ―
reading
presenting
writing
communicating

Explorable Environments

Science Museums for Every Home
We transform our everyday space into explorable environments where people can learn through tangible exploration just like science museums.
― Dynamic Media for ―
learning
understanding
exploring
discovering

Generative AR

Make the World a Dynamic Canvas for Generative AI
We unleash the creative potential of Generative AI beyond screens, as if the entire world becomes a dynamic and living canvas.
― Dynamic Media for ―
sketching
expressing
authoring
creating

Responsive Physical World

Respond Both Visually and Physically
Both visual and physical representations are equally important. We make environments responsive both visually and physically with AR and robotics
― Dynamic Media for ―
touching
crafting
feeling
manipulating

Adaptive Reality

Ambient and Context-Aware Intelligence
We make dynamic media pervasive and ubiquitous with the power of AR and AI, weaving them into the fabric of everyday life.

― Dynamic Media for ―
adapting
reminding
visualizing
assisting

Projects

UIST 2023
AI-Enabled Augmented Textbook
UIST 2023
Dynamic Sketch in AR
UIST 2023
Tangible Holoportation
CHI 2023
AI-Enabled Tangible AR Prototype
CHI 2023
Human Teleoperation
UIST 2022
Augmented Presentation
UIST 2022
AR Sketch for Robots
CHI 2022
A Survey and Taxonomy
UIST 2021
On-Demand Haptics
UIST 2020
Visualize Everyday Motion
CHI 2020
Reconfigurable Rooms
UIST 2019
Swarm Robots as Dynamic Media
CHI 2018
Sketch to Program Swarm Robots
UIST 2018
3D Printer as Dynamic Media

Full Papers

RoboVisARHRI 2024

Immersive Authoring of Condition-based AR Robot Visualisations

Rasmus Skovhus Lunding, Mille Skovhus Lunding, Tiare Feuchtner, Marianne Graves Petersen, Kaj Gronbaek, Ryo Suzuki  

Sketched RealityUIST 2022

Sketching Bi-Directional Interactions Between Virtual and Physical Worlds with AR and Actuated Tangible UI

Hiroki Kaimoto, Kyzyl Monteiro, Mehrad Faridan, Jiatong Li, Samin Farajian, Yasuaki Kakehi, Ken Nakagaki, Ryo Suzuki  

MixelsUIST 2022

Fabricating Interfaces using Programmable Magnetic Pixels

Martin Nisser, Yashaswini Makaram, Lucian Covarrubias, Amadou Yaye Bah, Faraz Faruqi, Ryo Suzuki, Stefanie Mueller  

RoomShiftCHI 2020

Room-scale Dynamic Haptics for VR with Furniture-moving Swarm Robots

Ryo Suzuki, Hooman Hedayati, Clement Zheng, James Bohn, Daniel Szafir, Ellen Yi-Luen Do, Mark D Gross, Daniel Leithinger  

ShapeBotsUIST 2019

Shape-changing Swarm Robots

Ryo Suzuki, Clement Zheng, Yasuaki Kakehi, Tom Yeh, Ellen Yi-Luen Do, Mark D. Gross, Daniel Leithinger  

MorphIODIS 2019Best Paper Award

Entirely Soft Sensing and Actuation Modules for Programming Shape Changes through Tangible Interaction

Ryosuke Nakayama*, Ryo Suzuki*, Satoshi Nakamaru, Ryuma Niiyama, Yoshihiro Kawahara, Yasuaki Kakehi   (the first two authors equally contributed)

DynablockUIST 2018

Dynamic 3D Printing for Instant and Reconstructable Shape Formation

Ryo Suzuki, Junichi Yamaoka, Daniel Leithinger, Tom Yeh, Mark D. Gross, Yoshihiro Kawahara, Yasuaki Kakehi  

TraceDiffVL/HCC 2017

Debugging Unexpected Code Behavior Using Trace Divergences

Ryo Suzuki, Gustavo Soares, Andrew Head, Elena Glassman, Ruan Reis, Melina Mongiovi, Loris D’Antoni, Bjöern Hartmann  

Mixed-Initiative Code FeedbackL@S 2017

Writing Reusable Code Feedback at Scale with Mixed-Initiative Program Synthesis

Andrew Head, Elena Glassman, Gustavo Soares, Ryo Suzuki, Lucas Figueredo, Loris D’Antoni, Björn Hartmann   (the first three authors equally contributed)

RefazerICSE 2017

Learning Syntactic Program Transformations from Examples

Reudismam Rolim, Gustavo Soares, Loris D'Antoni, Oleksandr Polozov, Sumit Gulwani, Rohit Gheyi, Ryo Suzuki, Björn Hartmann  

AtelierCHI 2016

Repurposing Expert Crowdsourcing Tasks as Micro-internships

Ryo Suzuki, Niloufar Salehi, Michelle S. Lam, Juan C. Marroquin, Michael S. Bernstein  

PhD Dissertation

Selected Posters and Demos

HoloTouchCHI '23 LBW

VR Haptics at HomeCHI '23 LBW

UltraBotsUIST '22 SIC

HapticLeverUIST '22 Poster

RealitySketchSIGGRAPH Asia '21 RTL

Swarm FabricationUIST '21 SIC

Programmable PolaritiesUIST '21 Demo

Collective Shape-Changing UIUIST '19 DC

LiftTilesUIST '19 Poster

LiftTiles: Modular and Reconfigurable Room-scale Shape Displays through Retractable Inflatable Actuators
Ryo Suzuki, Ryosuke Nakayama, Dan Liu, Yasuaki Kakehi, Mark D. Gross, and Daniel Leithinger,.
[PDF][Poster][Slide][DOI][Video]

Synthesized HintsCHI '17 LBW

Exploring the Design Space of Automatically Synthesized Hints for Introductory Programming Assignments
Ryo Suzuki, Gustavo Soares, Elena Glassman, Andrew Head, Loris D'Antoni, and Bjoern Hartmann,.
[PDF][Poster][Slide][DOI][Video]

DaemoUIST '15 Poster

CumikiICSE '15 Poster

Press Coverage

Professional Activities

Program Committee: CHI 2023, UIST 2022, ISMAR 2022, VRST 2022, CHI 2022, TEI 2022, UIST 2021, ISMAR 2021, VRST 2021, TEI 2021, GI 2020

Journal Editorial Board: ACM Transactions of Human-Robot Interaction, Frontiers in Virtual Reality Haptics

Organizer: UIST 2022 (Student Innovation Contest Chair), UIST 2021 (Student Innovation Contest Chair), CHI 2021 (Social Media Chair), CHI 2021 (Student Research Competition Jury), UIST 2016 (Web and Social Media Chair),

Review: CHI 2016--2022, UIST 2017--2022, IMSUT 2020--2021, ISS 2021, ISMAR 2020--2022, VRST 2020--2022, CSCW 2021, TOCHI 2020--2021, PACM 2021, DIS 2021, C&C 2021, IEEE VR 2020, VL/HCC 2020, SCF 2019, SIGGRAPH ETech 2019--2021, GI 2020

Student Volunteer: UIST 2016, CHI 2017

Current Affiliation

University of Calgary

Assistant Professor

January, 2021 --- Current
Google

Visiting Researcher

July, 2023 --- Current
Tohoku University

Visiting Professor

October, 2023 --- Current

Previous Affiliation

CU Boulder
August, 2015 --- August, 2020
Microsoft Research
May, 2020 --- August, 2020
May, 2019 --- August, 2019
University of Tokyo
December, 2017 --- October, 2018
UC Berkeley

Research Intern

May, 2016 --- August, 2016
Stanford University

Research Intern

May, 2015 --- August, 2015
University of Tokyo

Research Assistant

October, 2014 --- May, 2015

Research Intern

December, 2014 --- March, 2015

Recent Updates

2023-07-25

Three UIST 2023 full-papers are accepted (25%)

2023-06-22

UIST 2023 PC Meeting Subcommittee Chair

2023-05-25

One DIS 2023 full-paper is accepted

2023-05-10

Visit Rome, Barcelona, and London for Guest Talk

2023-04-23

Attend CHI 2023 in Hamburg to present two full-papers and two late-breaking work

2023-02-26

Two CHI 2023 LBW papers were accepted (34%)

2023-01-13

Two CHI 2023 full-papers are accepted (28%)

2023-01-11

CHI 2023 PC Meeting (Blending Interaction Subcommittee).

2022-12-13

Three papers were submitted to R&R for CHI 2023

2022-12-01
2022-11-02

Mehrad Faridan and Marcus Friedel won Honorable Mention Award for UIST 2022 Student Innovation Contest

2022-10-30

Attend UIST 2022 in Bend

2022-10-25

Attend IROS 2022 in Kyoto

2022-10-23
2022-10-15

Visit Tohoku University (Yoshifumi Kitamura Lab).

2022-10-15

Traveling to Japan.

2022-07-31

Final Day for the Mitacs Globalink Summer Intern Students.

2022-07-29

Co-Charing UIST 2022 SIC with Thijs Rouman (Ultrasound Levitation Kit).

2022-07-10

Visited Seoul National University (to see Inrak Choi).

2022-07-08

Attended SIGCHI Korea Summer Event at the University of Seoul.

2022-07-05

Invited Talk at KAIST (hosted by Andrea Bianchi and Juho Kim).

2022-07-04

Visit KAIST HCI Group in Korea.

2022-06-30

One IROS 2022 full-paper is accepted (48%).

2022-06-25

Three UIST 2022 full-paper are accepted (26%).

2022-06-16

Visit SFU HC Group in Vancouver.

2022-05-16

Invited Talk at Calgary Public Library.

2022-05-01

Presented AR and Robotics Taxonomy paper at CHI 2022 in New Orleans.

2022-04-28

Invited Talk at Microsoft Research EPIC Group in Redmond (hosted by Ken Hinckley).

2022-03-11

Invited Talk at CU Boulder ATLAS (hosted by Ellen Yi-Luen Do and Mark Gross).

2022-02-11

One CHI 2022 full-paper is accepted (26%).

2022-01-21

One ICRA 2022 full-paper is accepted.

2021-12-17

Presented RealitySketch at SIGGRAPH Asia 2021 Real-time Live! in front of thousands of audience.

2021-11-11

CHI 2022 PC Meeting (Blending Interaction).

2021-09-01
2021-08-28

Our UIST 2021 full-paper is accepted (25%).

2021-04-16

Received NSERC Discovery Grant Funding

2020-08-28

Our UIST paper won 🏆 Honorable Mention Awarad.

2020-08-07

Joining the University of Calgary as an Assisatnat Professor in CS and HCI Group starting in Winter 2021.

2020-07-28

PhD Dissertation is submitted and officially graduated! :)

2020-07-01

One IROS 2020 full-paper is accepted (47%).

2020-06-24

One UIST 2020 full-paper is accepted (21%).

2020-05-18

Start intern at Microsoft Research (mentor: Mar Gonzalez Franco).

2020-05-13

PhD Defense ... and Passed! :) (committee: D Leithinger, M Gross, T Yeh, H Ishii, T Igarashi)

2020-02-14---05-13

Traveling for on-site job interviews (UW, UCSB, Boston, Virginia Tech, Calgary)

2019-12-12

One CHI 2020 full-paper is accepted (24%).

2019-11-25

Traveling to Boston to visit MIT CSAIL and Media Lab

2019-10-19

Traveling to New Orleans for UIST 2019

2019-10-10

Became a PhD candidate (committee: D Leithinger, M Gross, T Yeh, H Ishii, T Igarashi, E Do)

2019-10-08

One TEI 2020 full-paper is accepted (28%).

2019-08-02

One UIST 2019 poster and and doctoral consortium paper are accepted.

2019-07-01

One UIST 2019 full-paper is accepted (24%).

2019-06-27

Won Best Paper Award for DIS 2019 (Top 1%).

2019-05-20

Start intern at Adobe Research (mentor: Rubaiat Habib).

2019-03-26

One DIS 2019 full-paper is accepted (25%).

2018-08-15

Award JST ACT-I funding (mentor Takeo Igarashi).

2018-08-06

One UIST 2018 full-paper is accepted (21%).

2018-08-03

One Pacific Graphics 2018 short-paper is accepted (26%).

2017-12-14

Start intern at The University of Tokyo (mentor: Yasuaki Kakehi).

2017-12-11

Two CHI 2018 full-papers are accepted (25%).

2017-06-27

One VL/HCC 2017 full-paper are accepted (29%).

2017-06-21

One ASSETS 2017 full-paper are accepted (26%).

2017-02-11

One CHI 2017 LBW paper is accepted (38%).

2016-12-16

One L@S 2017 full paper is accepted (22%).

2016-12-12

One ICSE 2017 full-paper is accepted (19%).

2016-05-23

Start intern at UC Berkeley (mentor: Bjoern Hartmann).

2016-01-15

One CHI 2016 full-paper is accepted (23%).

2015-10-01

I will serve as a web and social media chair for UIST 2016

2015-05-18

Start intern at Stanford (mentor: Michael Bernstein).

2014-10-15

The very first day of starting my HCI research (mentor: Koji Yatani)