GyFoam: Fabricating Lattice Foam with Customizable Stiffness through Uniform ExpansionWe present GyFoam, a fabrication method integrating foam material with lattice structure to enable controlled and uniform expansion, which supports high-quality forming in appearance and customizable stiffness in function, using standard 3D printers, filaments, commercially available Thermo-Expandable Microspheres and silicone. To achieve customizable stiffness, we propose two methods through experiment: modifying material concentration and adjusting lattice structural parameters. Additionally, we propose three shape control strategies for creating complex shapes: bending, wavy edges, and internal doming. Furthermore, a user-friendly design tool is established for users to construct lattice structures, preview basic deformation, and generate mold models for printing. Finally, through a series of applications, we validate GyFoam's practical usage of fabricating large objects, wearable products, enabling flexible interactions and creating aesthetic designs.2025GWGuanyun Wang et al.Desktop 3D Printing & Personal FabricationShape-Changing Materials & 4D PrintingCustomizable & Personalized ObjectsUIST
Enhancing Passenger Trust Toward Cooperative Autonomous Vehicles Using Simulated Augmented Reality DisplaysAdoption of Fully Autonomous Vehicles (FAVs) depends on trust, which is defined as confidence in a vehicle's dependability, safety, and predictability. In cooperative driving scenarios, trust must exceed ego vehicles to include other autonomous vehicles and their coordination. This is challenged by unexpected multi-agent interactions, diminishing human control, and limited system transparency. We hypothesize that enhancing transparency by providing information about ego vehicles, other cooperative vehicles, and road conditions can foster trust. This is achieved by visualizing vehicle-to-everything (V2X) information via augmented reality (AR) interfaces. To test this in a safe environment, we conducted a within-subjects experiment in a Virtual Reality (VR) driving simulator with AR overlays. Participants experienced three interface concepts: (A) no transparency, (B) system-level transparency (ego vehicle intentions only), and (C) environment-level transparency (cooperation intentions, planned paths, and infrastructure). Results show that environment-level transparency, despite the higher cognitive workload, enhanced trust in both ego and cooperating FAVs.2025HFHady Farahat et al.Head-Up Display (HUD) & Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) Communication DesignAR Navigation & Context AwarenessAutoUI
Beyond Wellbeing Apps: Co-Designing Immersive, Embodied, and Collective Digital Wellbeing Interventions for Healthcare ProfessionalsHealthcare professionals (HCPs) face increasing levels of stress and burnout. Technological wellbeing interventions provide accessible and flexible support for HCPs. While most studies have focused on mobile- and web-based programs, alternative technologies like virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), tangible interfaces, and embodied technologies are emerging as engaging and effective tools for wellbeing interventions. However, there is still a lack of research on how such technologies are perceived among HCPs. This study explored HCPs' perceptions and preferences for various types of wellbeing technologies, by conducting a 2-phase co-design study involving 26 HCPs in idea generation, concept evaluation, prototype testing, and design iteration. From our findings, HCPs highly valued the potential of technologies to support mental health with immersive, embodied, and collective experiences. Furthermore, we provided design recommendations for wellbeing technologies for HCPs that sustain user engagement by meeting their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the experiences.2025ZZZheyuan Zhang et al.VR Medical Training & RehabilitationMental Health Apps & Online Support CommunitiesDIS
Domestic Cultures of Plant Care: A Moss Terrarium ProbeHouseplants are increasingly being used as part of interactive systems that aim to foster pro-environmental concern and awareness of more-than-human life. Yet such interventions rely on conflicting and untested assumptions about how people relate to houseplants. We therefore studied domestic plant care in 11 purposefully sampled households, applying a sensor-equipped moss terrarium as a living ‘thing ethnography’ probe, supplemented with semi-structured interviews. We find that social and intergenerational cultures of plant care inform people's individual concern and accountability through constituents and mechanisms like gift-giving, signalling, knowledge transfer, or joint practical care. We identify five domestic cultures of plant care in our sample, each of which frames plants differently and leads to different practical approaches to plant care. We propose design considerations that emphasise enculturation and shared care over individual behaviour change and reframe houseplants from decorative objects into living household members.2025NBNirit Binyamini Ben-Meir et al.Sustainable HCIHuman-Nature Relationships (More-than-Human Design)DIS
Promoting Cognitive Health in Elder Care with Large Language Model-Powered Socially Assistive RobotsAs the global population ages, there is increasing need for accessible technologies that promote cognitive health and detect early signs of cognitive decline. This research demonstrates the potential for in-residence monitoring and assessment of cognitive health using large language model (LLM)-powered socially assistive robots (SARs). We conducted a 5-week within-subjects study involving 22 older adults in retirement homes to investigate the feasibility of LLM-powered SARs for promoting and assessing cognitive health. We designed tasks that involved verbal dialogue based on clinically validated cognitive tools. Our findings reveal improved task performance after three robot-administered sessions, with significantly more detailed picture descriptions, fewer word repetitions in semantic fluency, and reduced need for hints. We found that older adults were more socially engaged in robot-administered tasks compared to those administered by a human, and they accepted and were willing to engage with SARs in this context, which had not been tested before.2025MLMaria R. Lima et al.Imperial College LondonHuman-LLM CollaborationElderly Care & Dementia SupportSocial Robot InteractionCHI
I-Card: A Generative AI-Supported Intelligent Design Method Card DeckA design method card deck helps designers understand and provoke thinking by presenting each method in a simple format and allow designers to switch between methods seamlessly by maintaining the same simple format across the deck. However, recent observations have shown designers hesitate to use a card deck due to the lack of support, while other tools have provided identified support with generative AI. Through a formative study, we identified the specific support designers need when applying the design method cards and intentions in integrating generative AI. Accordingly, we developed the intelligent design method card deck, I-Card, which integrates generative AI to provide applicable design methods, design knowledge and data support, and interactive and dynamic support. A user study demonstrates that I-Card improved the design efficiency and applicability by offering personalized guidance, enhanced decision-making with comprehensive data generation and provided more design inspiration via interactive support.2025LCLiuqing Chen et al.Zhejiang University, College of Computer Science and TechnologyGenerative AI (Text, Image, Music, Video)Prototyping & User TestingCHI
Sonic Delights: Exploring the Design of Food as An Auditory-Gustatory InterfaceWhile interest in blending sound with culinary experiences has grown in Human-Food Interaction (HFI), the significance of food’s material properties in shaping sound-related interactions has largely been overlooked. This paper explores the opportunity to enrich the HFI experience by treating food not merely as passive nourishment but as an integral material in computational architecture with input/output capabilities. We introduce “Sonic Delights,” where food is a comestible auditory-gustatory interface to enable users to interact with and consume digital sound. This concept redefines food as a conduit for interactive auditory engagement, shedding light on the untapped multisensory possibilities of merging taste with digital sound. An associated study allowed us to articulate design insights for forthcoming HFI endeavors that seek to weave food into multisensory design, aiming to further the integration of digital interactivity with the culinary arts.2025JDJialin Deng et al.Department of Human-Centred Computing, Monash University, Exertion Games LabFood Culture & Food InteractionCHI
TH-Wood: Developing Thermo-Hygro-Coordinating Driven Wood Actuators to Enhance Human-Nature InteractionWood has become increasingly applied in shape-changing interfaces for its eco-friendly and smart responsive properties, while its applications face challenges as it remains primarily driven by humidity. We propose TH-Wood, a biodegradable actuator system composed of wood veneer and microbial polymers, driven by both temperature and humidity, and capable of functioning in complex outdoor environments. This dual-factor-driven approach enhances the sensing and response channels, allowing for more sophisticated coordinating control methods. To assist in designing and utilizing the system more effectively, we developed a structure library inspired by dynamic plant forms, conducted extensive technical evaluations, created an educational platform accessible to users, and provided a design tool for deformation adjustments and behavior previews. Finally, several ecological applications demonstrate the potential of TH-Wood to significantly enhance human interaction with natural environments and expand the boundaries of human-nature relationships.2025GWGuanyun Wang et al.Zhejiang UniversityShape-Changing Interfaces & Soft Robotic MaterialsHuman-Nature Relationships (More-than-Human Design)CHI
BioCosMe: Lip-based Cosmetics with Colorimetric Biosensors for Salivary AnalysisThis paper introduces a lipstick biosensor as a novel form factor for health monitoring that displays pH levels through color variation. Using the unique properties of lipstick—different colors, easy application and reapplication on lips, interaction with saliva and drinks—we aim to provide an always-available and non-invasive access to information typically obtained through lab analysis. Our skin-safe fabrication processes and technical evaluations include three lips products: lipstick, lip tint, and lip gloss, all using anthocyanin for sensing pH levels as the proof of concept biosensor. We created a mobile app with a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model to detect pH levels based on the lipstick's color changes. Our dataset involved five users under eight different lighting conditions and seven pH levels. The results showed improved detection of pH variations compared to traditional methods. A user study with 11 participants was conducted to evaluate application, comfort, and perceptions of privacy and usability. This approach offers a stylish, convenient way to monitor biochemical information, blending self-expression with health awareness.2024SSSunit P Jariwala et al.Diet Tracking & Nutrition ManagementBiosensors & Physiological MonitoringUbiComp
Sonic Entanglements with Electromyography: Between Bodies, Signals, and RepresentationsThis paper investigates sound and music interactions arising from the use of electromyography (EMG) to instrumentalise signals from muscle exertion of the human body. We situate EMG within a family of embodied interaction modalities, where it occupies a middle ground, considered as a "signal from the inside'' compared with external observations of the body (e.g., motion capture), but also seen as more volitional than neurological states recorded by brain electroencephalogram (EEG). To understand the messiness of gestural interaction afforded by EMG, we revisit the phenomenological turn in HCI, reading Paul Dourish's work on the transparency of "ready-to-hand'' technologies against the grain of recent posthumanist theories, which offer a performative interpretation of musical entanglements between bodies, signals, and representations. We take music performance as a use case, reporting on the opportunities and constraints posed by EMG in workshop-based studies of vocal, instrumental, and electronic practices. We observe that across our diverse range of musical subjects, they consistently challenged notions of EMG as a transparent tool that directly registered the state of the body, reporting instead that it took on "present-at-hand'' qualities, defamiliarising the performer's own sense of themselves and reconfiguring their embodied practice.2024CRCourtney N. Reed et al.Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS)Conversational ChatbotsAgent Personality & AnthropomorphismDIS
Guidelines for Integrating Value Sensitive Design in Responsible AI ToolkitsValue Sensitive Design (VSD) is a framework for integrating human values throughout the technology design process. In parallel, Responsible AI (RAI) advocates for the development of systems aligning with ethical values, such as fairness and transparency. In this study, we posit that a VSD approach is not only compatible, but also advantageous to the development of RAI toolkits. To empirically assess this hypothesis, we conducted four workshops involving 17 early-career AI researchers. Our aim was to establish links between VSD and RAI values while examining how existing toolkits incorporate VSD principles in their design. Our findings show that collaborative and educational design features within these toolkits, including illustrative examples and open-ended cues, facilitate an understanding of human and ethical values, and empower researchers to incorporate values into AI systems. Drawing on these insights, we formulated six design guidelines for integrating VSD values into the development of RAI toolkits.2024MSMalak Sadek et al.Imperial College LondonAI-Assisted Decision-Making & AutomationAI Ethics, Fairness & AccountabilityPrivacy by Design & User ControlCHI
How does Juicy Game Feedback Motivate? Testing Curiosity, Competence, and Effectance'Juicy' or immediate abundant action feedback is widely held to make video games enjoyable and intrinsically motivating. Yet we do not know why it works: Which motives are mediating it? Which features afford it? In a pre-registered (n=1,699) online experiment, we tested three motives mapping prior practitioner discourse---effectance, competence, and curiosity---and connected design features. Using a dedicated action RPG and a 2x2+control design, we varied feedback amplification, success-dependence, and variability and recorded self-reported effectance, competence, curiosity, and enjoyment as well as free-choice playtime. Structural equation models show curiosity as the strongest enjoyment and only playtime predictor and support theorised competence pathways. Success dependence enhanced all motives, while amplification unexpectedly reduced them, possibly because the tested condition unintentionally impeded players' sense of agency. Our study evidences uncertain success affording curiosity as an underappreciated moment-to-moment engagement driver, directly supports competence-related theory, and suggests that prior juicy game feel guidance ties to legible action-outcome bindings and graded success as preconditions of positive 'low-level' user experience.2024DKDominic Kao et al.Purdue UniversityGame UX & Player BehaviorGamification DesignCHI
BIDTrainer: An LLMs-driven Education Tool for Enhancing the Understanding and Reasoning in Bio-inspired DesignBio-inspired design (BID) fosters innovative solutions in engineering by drawing inspiration from biology. Learning BID is crucial for developing multidisciplinary innovation skills of designers and engineers. While current BID education has attempted to enhance learners' understanding and analogical reasoning skills in BID, it often relies much on teachers' expertise. When learners turn to learn independently through some educational tools, there are challenges in understanding and reasoning practice in such complex multidisciplinary environment, as well as evaluating learning outcomes comprehensively. Addressing these challenges, we introduce a Large Language Models (LLMs)-driven BID education method based on a structured ontology, as well as three strategies: enhancing understanding through LLMs-enpowered "learning by asking", assisting reasoning by providing hints and feedback, and assessing learning outcomes through benchmarking against existing BID knowledge. Implementing the method, we developed BIDTrainer, an interactive BID education tool. User studies indicate that learners using BIDTrainer understood BID cases better, reason faster with higher interactivity than the baseline, and BIDTrainer assessed the learning outcomes consistent with experts.2024LCLiuqing Chen et al.Zhejiang UniversityHuman-LLM CollaborationSTEM Education & Science CommunicationCHI
"Speech is Silver, Silence is Golden " Analyzing Micro-communication Strategies between Visually Impaired Runners and their GuidesRunning and jogging are popular activities for many visually impaired individuals thanks to the relatively low entry barriers. Research in HCI and beyond has focused primarily on leveraging technology to enable visually impaired people to run independently. However, depending on their residual vision and personal preferences, many chose to run with a sighted guide. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of the partnership between visually impaired runners and sighted guides. Using a combination of interaction and thematic analysis on video and interview data from 6 pairs of runners and guides, we unpack the complexity and directionality of three layers of vocal communication (directive, contextual, and recreational) and distinguish between intentional and unintentional corporeal communication. Building on the understanding of the importance of synchrony we also present some exploratory data looking at physiological synchrony between 2 pairs of runners with different level of experience and articulate recommendations for the HCI community.2024GBGiulia Barbareschi et al.Keio UniversityMotor Impairment Assistive Input TechnologiesCognitive Impairment & Neurodiversity (Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia)Fitness Tracking & Physical Activity MonitoringCHI
Touch-n-Go: Designing and Fabricating Touch Fastening Structures by FDM 3D PrintingTouch fastening structures are widely used to quickly assemble and disassemble an object with multiple parts. However, such structures are under-explored in the context of additive manufacturing for personal fabrication. We proposed Touch-n-Go, a method for designing touch-fastening structures with customizable mechanical properties such as holding capacities or shearing strength. Additionally, the customization of fastener patterns enables both static and dynamic connections, and the dynamic connections grant the freedom of rotation and translation. To facilitate the customization process, we developed a design tool that allows the integration of fastening structures on the surface of a 3D-printed object. Furthermore, we validated the fastening properties of Touch-n-Go through a series of experiments, and the result exhibits performances that match or even surpass off-the-shelf fasteners. Finally, we demonstrated the implementation of Touch-n-Go through a collection of applications.2024LSLingyun Sun et al.Zhejiang UniversityDesktop 3D Printing & Personal FabricationCustomizable & Personalized ObjectsCHI
Entangling Entanglement: A Diffractive Dialogue on HCI and Musical InteractionsIf, as several recent papers claim, we have entered a new wave of “Entanglement HCI,” then we are still at a liminal stage prior to consensus around which sources underpin this paradigm shift or how they might inform actionable approaches to design practice. Now is the time to interpret technosocial mediation from a range of disciplinary perspectives, rather than settling on a narrow canon of literature. To this end, our paper enacts a diractive dialogue between researchers from dierent disciplines, focusing on digital musical instruments to examine how technical knowledge from design and engineering can be read against the grain of critical theories from music, media, and cultural studies. Drawing on two object lessons—keyboards and step sequencers, plus their remediations in recent musical interaction research—we highlight interdependencies of theory, design, and practice, and we show how the idea of entanglement is itself entangled in a cross-disciplinary web.2024AMAndrew McPherson et al.Imperial College LondonGenerative AI (Text, Image, Music, Video)Music Composition & Sound Design ToolsCHI
Thinking with Sound: Exploring the Experience of Listening to an Ultrasonic Art Installation Entanglement theories are well established in HCI discourse. These involve a commitment to view human experience in encounters with technology as relational and contingent, and research apparatuses as co-producers rather than passive observers of phenomena. In this paper, we argue that sound is the sensory modality best suited to the investigation of entanglements. Materialist theories of sound and listening guide both the design of a novel interactive sound installation and the methodological approach of a participant study exploring the experience of listening. We present a diffractive analysis whereby micro-phenomenological interview data is read with sonic theories, generating accounts that might otherwise remain mute: the temporal fluctuation and physical feeling of proximity in listener entanglements with sound, somatic intention setting, and plural interpretations of interactivity. Finally, we offer a series of provocations for HCI to embrace qualities of the sonic and consider epistemological positions grounded in other sense modalities.2024NRNicole Robson et al.Queen Mary University of LondonMid-Air Haptics (Ultrasonic)Digital Art Installations & Interactive PerformanceCHI
Trends, Challenges and Processes in Conversational Agent Design: Exploring Practitioners' Views through Semi-Structured InterviewsThe aim of this study is to explore the challenges and experiences of conversational agent (CA) practitioners in order to highlight their practical needs and bring them into consideration within the scholarly sphere. A range of data scientists, conversational designers, executive managers and researchers shared their opinions and experiences through semi-structured interviews. They were asked about emerging trends, the challenges they face, and the design processes they follow when creating CAs. In terms of trends, findings included mixed feelings regarding no-code solutions and a desire for a separation of roles. The challenges mentioned included a lack of socio-technical tools and conversational archetypes. Finally, practitioners followed different design processes and did not use the design processes described in the academic literature. These findings were analyzed to establish links between practitioners' insights and discussions in related literature. The goal of this analysis is to highlight research-practice gaps by synthesising five practitioner needs that are not currently being met. By highlighting these research-practice gaps and foregrounding the challenges and experiences of CA practitioners, we can begin to understand the extent to which emerging literature is influencing industrial settings and where more research is needed to better support CA practitioners in their work.2023MSRafael A Calvo et al.Conversational ChatbotsHuman-LLM CollaborationCUI
When Materials Meet Sound: Discovering the Meaning of Deformable Materials in Musical InteractionResearch on Digital Musical Instruments (DMIs) design highlights that materiality plays an important role in DMI design and musical interaction. However, DMI design research often focuses on technology-oriented factors, with less exploration of the meaning of materials in design practice. In this paper, we explore how DMI designers understand deformable sensor materials and how they use these as a resource for creative aesthetic design. Eleven DMI designers were invited to use a selection of deformable sensor materials to create prototype DMIs with them in a design activity. Three design approaches emerged, determined by how designers perceived and explored sensor materials. We discuss the potential of the methodology for exploring strongly entangled elements, such as material, gesture, and sound, in DMI design. The results contribute to the design practice for DMI designers and to further exploration of material-based design research in Human-Computer Interaction.2023JZJianing Zheng et al.Shape-Changing Interfaces & Soft Robotic MaterialsMusic Composition & Sound Design ToolsDIS
InfinitePaint: Painting in Virtual Reality with Passive Haptics Using Wet Brushes and a Physical Proxy CanvasDigital painting interfaces require an input fidelity that preserves the artistic expression of the user. Drawing tablets allow for precise and low-latency sensing of pen motions and other parameters like pressure to convert them to fully digitized strokes. A drawback is that those interfaces are rigid. While soft brushes can be simulated in software, the haptic sensation of the rigid pen input device is different compared to using a soft wet brush on paper. We present InfinitePaint, a system that supports digital painting in Virtual Reality on real paper with a real wet brush. We use special paper that turns black wherever it comes into contact with water and turns blank again upon drying. A single camera captures those temporary strokes and digitizes them while applying properties like color or other digital effects. We tested our system with artists and compared the subjective experience with a drawing tablet.2023AFAndreas Rene Fender et al.ETH ZürichHaptic WearablesDigital Art Installations & Interactive PerformanceCHI