Mechanical Engineering · Tangible Interfaces · Haptics · Augmented Reality

I leverage mechanical design to physically augment digital applications to enhance tangible experiences.

Concept sketch of one student in three moments: augmented-reality molecules bonding inside a beaker as she mixes two solutions, a haptic robot pushing back as she pulls a simulated bond apart, and energy overlays tracing a real pendulum's swing.
Concept: augmented reality reveals what is happening inside a real experiment, haptics let students feel the forces in a simulation, and visualization ties a physical system back to the science.

I’m a PhD candidate in Stanford’s HCI Group and a mechanical engineer by training. I build hardware such as haptic robots, sensor-laden lab instruments, and printed mechanisms that give simulations and apps a physical form. Then I study how touching, turning, and pushing on them changes the way people learn.

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Quick facts

  • PhD ResearchTangible and augmented interfaces for hands-on science learning with the Stanford HCI Group
  • RecentlyResearch intern at Microsoft Research building KITE, a kinesthetic haptic robot
  • AdvisorsJames Landay & Allison Okamura
  • MethodsUser-centered design · Concept engineering · Mechanical design · Rapid prototyping · Evidence-based evaluation

Why tangible?

Every new wave of education technology promises to transform the classroom, yet in our study of high school science labs, teachers were clear: students learn the most from handling real equipment and working through messy, real data. Most lab technology does the opposite, replacing the experiment with a “perfect” simulation.

That is the gap my work addresses. I build technology that augments hands-on experiences instead of replacing them, keeping the physical world at the center and adding digital insight on top.

Read the teacher study

My approach

I develop concepts, prototype the hardware and software, and evaluate them with users.

Exploded CAD view of the KITE robot showing its camera, motors, omni wheels, axles, battery, Raspberry Pi, and power converters.

1 · Creating custom hardware

Mechanical design

Haptic and bio-inspired robots, compliant robot feet, multi-material 3D printing, and CAD and manufacturing. This is the hands-on engineering everything else is built on.

View mechanical design work A student operating the instrumented microscope while a connected smartphone shows onion cells with cell-counting tools.

2 · Tangible interfaces

Physical interfaces for digital systems

Hardware that gives software a body, such as a haptic robot that renders simulated forces and a 3D-printed microscope that drives a smartphone app.

View tangible interfaces A student swinging a real pendulum while a tablet overlays an AR protractor and energy bar.

3 · Understanding built by doing

Tangible learning experiences

Studies with students showing how augmenting real experiments, rather than replacing them, deepens scientific reasoning and engagement.

View learning research

Selected highlights

Projects where the physical and the digital are designed together.

Hands on the KITE haptic robot as it moves across a projected physics scene

Microsoft Research · Haptics

KITE: a kinesthetic interface for tangible exploration

A free-moving haptic robot that lets learners feel the forces in digital physics simulations, from lift on an airfoil to pulling apart molecular bonds.

Feel the forces AR app showing enzyme activity above three real test tubes with balloons

Augmented Reality · Biology Labs

Visualizing biological mechanisms

Computer vision tracks students' real balloons in a yeast fermentation lab and animates the enzyme activity behind them. Tested at 5 institutions with over 100 students.

See enzymes at work AR measurement tools overlaid on a real pendulum

Augmented Reality · Physical Labs

AR-enhanced physics lab

AR protractors, energy graphs, and period counters layered over a real pendulum improved students’ scientific reasoning (Cohen’s d = 0.63) without replacing the hands-on experiment.

View AR lab research The 3D-printed smartphone-enabled microscope

Tangible Interface · Education

Smartphone-enabled microscope

A low-cost, 3D-printed microscope whose real focus knob, objective turret, and slide stage drive biological imagery on a connected smartphone.

See the hardware The Cassie bipedal robot

Mechanical Design · Robotics

Impact-absorbing feet for the Cassie robot

Silicone honeycomb feet with foam inserts cut Cassie's step impact by over 90%, with no changes to the robot's balance controller.

See the design Textured 3D model of a bed lit like old CCTV footage

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Other work

Projects beyond my core research, from qualitative interviews with science teachers and research and industry collaborations to learning technologies, playable games, and 3D modeling.

Browse other work