Ryo Suzuki | University of Calgary Assistant Professor

I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary in the Department of Computer Science, starting in Winter 2021. I am part of HCI Group at UCalgary.

I am actively looking for PhDs, masters, postdocs, or 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) and Robotics. 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, and shape-changing interfaces.

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

Programmable Reality Lab

Full Papers

Prototyping Tangible Augmented Reality with Everyday Objects by Leveraging Interactive Machine Teaching

Kyzyl Monteiro, Ritik Vatsal, Neil Chulpongsatorn, Aman Parnami, Ryo Suzuki

Teleoperating Real Human Surrogates through Mixed Reality Gestural Guidance for Remote Hands-on Classrooms

Mehrad Faridan, Bheesha Kumari, Ryo Suzuki

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

Real-time Speech-driven Augmented Presentation for AR Live Storytelling

Jian Liao, Adnan Karim, Shivesh Jadon, Rubaiat Habib Kazi, Ryo Suzuki

Fabricating Interfaces using Programmable Magnetic Pixels

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

Selective Self-Assembly using Re-Programmable Magnetic Pixels

Martin Nisser, Yashaswini Makaram, Faraz Faruqi, Ryo Suzuki, Stefanie Mueller

A Survey and Taxonomy for AR-enhanced Human-Robot Interaction and Robotic Interfaces

Ryo Suzuki, Adnan Karim, Tian Xia, Hooman Hedayati, Nicolai Marquardt

Designing Expandable-Structure Robots for Human-Robot Interaction

Hooman Hedayati, Ryo Suzuki, Wyatt Rees, Daniel Leithinger, Daniel Szafir

Electromagnetically Actuated Pivoting for Scalable Modular Self-Reconfigurable Robots

Martin Nisser, Leon Cheng, Yashaswini Makaram, Ryo Suzuki, Stefanie Mueller

Distributed Encountered-type Haptics for VR with Multiple Shape-changing Mobile Robots

Ryo Suzuki, Eyal Ofek, Mike Sinclair, Daniel Leithinger, Mar Gonzalez-Franco

Embedding Responsive Graphics and Visualizations in AR through Dynamic Sketching

Ryo Suzuki, Rubaiat Habib Kazi, Li-Yi Wei, Stephen DiVerdi, Wilmot Li, Daniel Leithinger

Actuated Expandable Structures for Aerial Robots

Hooman Hedayati, Ryo Suzuki, Daniel Leithinger, Daniel Szafir

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

Constructive Building Blocks for Prototyping Room-scale Shape-changing Interfaces

Ryo Suzuki, Ryosuke Nakayama, Dan Liu, Yasuaki Kakehi, Mark D. Gross, Daniel Leithinger

Shape-changing Swarm Robots

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

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)

Dynamic 3D Printing for Instant and Reconstructable Shape Formation

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

Explorable Design for 3D Printing Textures

Ryo Suzuki, Koji Yatani, Mark D. Gross, Tom Yeh

Programming Swarm User Interfaces through Direct Physical Manipulation

Ryo Suzuki, Jun Kato, Mark D. Gross, Tom Yeh

3D Printed Electronic Papercrafts - An Integrated Approach for 3D Sculpting Paper-based Electronic Devices

Hyunjoo Oh, Tung D. Ta, Ryo Suzuki, Mark D. Gross, Yoshihiro Kawahara, Lining Yao

Enhancing Tactile Graphics with Dynamic Tactile Markers for Blind People

Ryo Suzuki, Abigale Stangl, Mark D. Gross, Tom Yeh

Debugging Unexpected Code Behavior Using Trace Divergences

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

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)

Learning Syntactic Program Transformations from Examples

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

Repurposing Expert Crowdsourcing Tasks as Micro-internships

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

PhD Dissertation

Dynamic Shape Construction and Transformation with Collective Elements

Ryo Suzuki
PhD Dissertation (University of Colorado Boulder)

Selected Posters and Demos

[UIST '22 SIC]
UltraBots: Large-Area Mid-Air Haptics for VR with Robotically Actuated Ultrasound Transducers
Mehrad Faridan, Marcus Friedel, Ryo Suzuki, Adjunct Proceedings of the 35th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software & Technology (UIST '22 SIC). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1--3.
[PDF]

[UIST '22 Poster]
HapticLever: Kinematic Force Feedback using a 3D Pantograph
Marcus Friedel, Ehud Sharlin, Ryo Suzuki, Adjunct Proceedings of the 35th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software & Technology (UIST '22 Poster). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1--3.
[PDF]

[SIGGRAPH Asia '21 Real-time Live!]
RealitySketch: Augmented Reality Sketching for Real-time Embedded and Responsive Visualiza- tions
Ryo Suzuki, Rubaiat Habib, Li-Yi Wei, Stephen Diverdi, Wilmot Li, Daniel Leithinger, Adjunct Proceedings of the 34th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software & Technology (SIGGRAPH Asia '21 Real-time Live!). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1--1.
[PDF]

[UIST '21 SIC]
Swarm Fabrication: Reconfigurable 3D Printers and Drawing Plotters Made of Swarm Robots
Samin Farajian, Hiroki Kaimoto, Ryo Suzuki, Adjunct Proceedings of the 34th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software & Technology (UIST '21 SIC). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1--2.
[PDF]

[UIST '21 Demo]
Programmable Polarities: Actuating Interactive Prototypes withProgrammable Electromagnets
Martin Nisser, Leon Cheng, Yashaswini Makaram, Ryo Suzuki, Stefanie Mueller, Adjunct Proceedings of the 34th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software & Technology (UIST '21 Demo). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2951--2958.
[PDF]

[UIST '19 Doctoral Consortium]
Collective Shape-changing Interfaces
Ryo Suzuki,, Adjunct Proceedings of the 32nd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software & Technology (UIST '19 Doctoral Consortium). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2951--2958.
[PDF]

[UIST '19 Adjunct]
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,, Adjunct Proceedings of the 32nd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software & Technology (UIST '19 Adjunct). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2951--2958.
[PDF][Poster]

[CHI EA '17]
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,, Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '17). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2951--2958.
[PDF][Poster][DOI]

[UIST '15 Adjunct]
Daemo: A Self-Governed Crowdsourcing Marketplace
Stanford Crowd Research Collective, Adjunct Proceedings of the 28th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software & Technology (UIST '15 Adjunct). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 101--102.
[PDF][DOI]

[CHI '15 Workshop]
Toward a Community Enhanced Programming Education
Ryo Suzuki,, ACM CHI 2015 Symposium on Emerging Japanese HCI Research Collection (CHI '15 Workshop). ACM, New York, NY, USA, .
[PDF][Slide]

[ICSE '15 Poster]
Interactive and Collaborative Source Code Annotation
Ryo Suzuki,, Proceedings of the 37th International Conference on Software Engineering - Volume 2 (ICSE '15 Poster). IEEE Press, Piscataway, NJ, USA, 799--800.
[PDF][Poster][DOI]

[WINE '14 Poster]
Network Thresholds and Multiple Equilibria in the Diffusion of Content-Based Platforms
Ryo Suzuki,, International Conference on Web and Internet Economics (WINE '14 Poster). Springer, New York, NY, USA, .
[PDF][Poster]

Press Coverage

[2022-02] Engadget Scientists create cube robots that can shapeshift in space

[2022-02] TechXplore Robotic cubes: Self-reconfiguring ElectroVoxels use embedded electromagnets to test applications for space exploration

[2022-02] TechEBlog MIT Researchers Develop Shape-Shifting ElectroVoxel Robots for Space Exploration

[2022-02] IEEE Spectrum Video Friday: Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos

[2022-02] Arduino Blog ElectroVoxel robots reconfigure themselves using magnets

[2022-02] Hackster.io These Magnetic Robots Assemble Like Voltron

[2021-11] UCalgary News “Touchable spoken words” bring the fantastic to life

[2021-07] IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications Cover Story of “Real Virtual Reality” (vol. 41)

[2021-03] IT Media News Evolution of “AR Drawing”? RealitySketch, a sketching technology that works with objects in reality

[2020-12] TechXplore RealitySketch: An AR interface to create responsive sketches

[2020-10] ACM TechNews Pufferfish-inspired robot could improve drone safety

[2020-10] Interesting Engineering Pufferfish Mimicking Drones to Improve Aerial Safety

[2020-10] New Atlas Drone draws on the pufferfish to protect itself and others

[2020-10] Techable University of Colorado researchers unveil ’RoomShift’ to move props in VR space in real life

[2020-10] Hackster.io Putting the Reality in Virtual Reality

[2020-09] Hackster.io PufferBot Is an Aerial Robot That Can Change Shape In-Flight

[2020-09] TechXplore RoomShift: A room-scale haptic and dynamic environment for VR applications

[2020-09] Engineering 360 Team builds drone inspired by the pufferfish

[2020-09] TechXplore PufferBot: A flying robot with an expandable body

[2020-09] Yahoo News Japan The University of Colorado Announced ”RoomShift” where Robot Rearranges Furniture to Create Virtual Spaces in a Realistic Way

[2020-09] IT Media News RoomShift: Reconfigurable Environments for Virtual Reality

[2020-02] IT Media News Giant whistle module expands the room with the University of Colorado and other ”LiftTiles” developments

[2020-01] Arduino Blog Prototype room-scale, shape-changing interfaces with LiftTiles

[2020-01] TechXplore LiftTiles: Actuator-based Building Blocks for Shape-changing Interfaces

[2020-01] ITMedia News A Swarm of Self-transforming Robots to Assist People

[2019-10] Hackster.io LiftTiles Turn Walls and Floors Into Reconfigurable Structures on Demand

[2019-10] Element 14 Engineers Develop LiftTiles, a Scale Shape-changing Interface

[2019-11] Bouncy Swarm Robots that can Change Shape to Visualize Data

[2019-10] Hackster.io Swarming Robots Can Change Their Configuration to Handle Different Tasks

[2019-09] TechXplore ShapeBots: A Swarm of Shape-shifting Robots that Visually Display Data

[2019-09] Hackaday Tiny Robots that Grow Taller and Wider

[2019-09] Robotic Gizmo ShapeBots: Shape-changing Swarm Robots

[2019-09] Gadgetify ShapeBots: Shape Changing Swarm Robots

[2018-10] 3DPrint.com Dynablock: 3D Prints That Assemble and Disassemble in Seconds

[2018-10] Hackster.io The Dynamic 3D Printing That Assembles and Disassembles Objects in Seconds

[2018-10] Arduino Blog Create Shapes Over and Over with the Dynablock 3D Printer

[2018-10] 3DRuck.com Dynablock: Dynamic 3D Printer Creates Objects in Seconds

[2018-10] World Business Satellite Repeatable 3D Printer

[2018-10] Nikkei Newspaper Modeling 3D Objects with Magnet-Embedded Blocks

[2016-06] Wired It’s Not Just Robots: Skilled Jobs Are Going to Meatware

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

Funding and Fellowship

Funding

Mitacs Globalink Research Award, $6,000 https://www.mitacs.ca/en/programs/globalink/globalink-research-award

Mitacs Globalink Research Internship Funding https://www.mitacs.ca/en/programs/globalink/globalink-research-internship

Snap Creative Challenge Funding, $15,000 https://www.snapcreativechallenge.com/

NSERC USRA, $6,000 x 2

Tohoku University Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Cooperative Research Projects, $18,000 https://www.riec.tohoku.ac.jp/en/nation-wide/koubo/r3/

NSERC Discovery Grant Funding, $145,000

Innovation Research Funding - Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in Japan, 2020 (Title: Adaptive Physical Environments with Distributed Swarm Robots. , $30,000)

Adobe Gift Funding, 2019 ($5,000)

ACT-I Funding for Young Scholars - JST, 2018 (Title: Dynamic Physical Interfaces, $30,000 and Mentorship Opportunity - My mentor: Takeo Igarashi)

Emerging Research Funding for AI and Interdisciplinary Research - Leave a Nest Foundation, 2018 (Title: Programmable Architecture with Soft Inflatable Actuator, $5,000

KAKENHI Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research - JSPS, 2013-2015 (Title: Network-based Diffusion Analysis for Online Community, $40,000)