TactDeform: Finger Pad Deformation Inspired Spatial Tactile Feedback for Virtual Geometry ExplorationSpatial tactile feedback can enhance the realism of geometry exploration in virtual reality applications. Current vibrotactile approaches often face challenges with the spatial and temporal resolution needed to render different 3D geometries. Inspired by the natural deformation of finger pads when exploring 3D objects and surfaces, we propose TactDeform, a parametric approach to render spatio-temporal tactile patterns using a finger-worn electro-tactile interface. The system dynamically renders electro-tactile patterns based on both interaction contexts (approaching, contact, and sliding) and geometric contexts (geometric features and textures), emulating deformations that occur during real-world touch exploration. Results from a user study \rr{(N=24)} show that the proposed approach enabled high texture discrimination and geometric feature identification compared to a baseline. Informed by results from a free 3D-geometry exploration phase, we provide insights that can inform future tactile interface designs.2026YDYihao Dong et al.The University of SydneyMid-Air Haptics (Ultrasonic)Haptic WearablesShape-Changing Interfaces & Soft Robotic MaterialsCHI
“My Tummy Has a Little Dragon”: From Everyday Experiences of Gut Sounds to Interoceptive Interaction Design Gastrointestinal sounds are a constant part of human physiology, offering potential insights into digestive functions and everyday bodily awareness. However, these sounds are rarely noticed and often socially stigmatised, remaining underexplored in HCI despite calls to recognise the gut as a site for embodied awareness. We extend HCI’s engagement with involuntary biosignals by positioning gut sounds as a uniquely generative context for interoceptive interaction design, where systems can scaffold awareness, reflection, and care. We conducted a week-long in-the-wild qualitative study with ten participants, which showed how making gut sounds audible reshaped bodily awareness, provoked affective responses, and prompted acts of reflection and tinkering. From these insights, we contribute four bodily perspectives – Registering, Reacting, Reflecting, and Responding- that capture the oscillatory nature of interoceptive engagement and offer design strategies that position biosignals as sites of curiosity, care, and awareness that are socially situated.2026NPNandini Pasumarthy et al.Monash UniversityEmotion-Sensing WearablesBehavior Change & Reflection TechnologyEmpathy & Emotional DesignCHI
PerEye: Co-Designing Extended Reality Rendering Attributes for Vision Health Diagnosis and EducationVision health is a critical domain of clinical practice, yet global access to diagnosis, rehabilitation, and education remains uneven due to economic and geographic disparities. Extended reality (XR) offers opportunities to extend clinical services through portable assessments and interactive simulations, but its design for vision health has been constrained by technical and translational challenges. This paper presents three studies within a sustained co-design process examining how immersive rendering tools can support vision care across clinical and educational contexts. First, we worked with clinicians to map rendering attributes to clinically meaningful functions, identifying opportunities for diagnostic and training use. Second, we evaluated a prototype visual field assessment, demonstrating feasibility in a diagnostic setting. Third, we applied vision simulations in orthoptic training, enhancing empathy and understanding in an educational setting. Together, these studies show how engaging domain experts advances XR tools for vision health, informing diagnosis, patient–clinician communication, and professional education.2026HZHowe Yuan Zhu et al.University of SydneyVR Medical Training & RehabilitationImmersion & Presence ResearchMental Health Apps & Online Support CommunitiesCHI
“I’m happy even though it’s not real”: GenAI Photo Editing as a Remembering ExperienceGenerative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly integrated into photo applications on personal devices, making editing photographs easier than ever while potentially influencing the memories they represent. This study explores how and why people use GenAI to edit personal photos and how this shapes their remembering experience. We conducted a two-phase qualitative study with 12 participants: a photo editing session using a GenAI tool guided by the Remembering Experience (RX) dimensions, followed by semi-structured interviews where participants reflected on the editing process and results. Findings show that participants prioritised felt memory over factual accuracy. For different photo elements, environments were modified easily, however, editing was deemed unacceptable if it touched upon a person’s identity. Editing processes brought positive and negative impacts, and itself also became a remembering experience. We further discuss potential benefits and risks of GenAI editing for remembering purposes and propose design implications for responsible GenAI.2026YWYufeng Wu et al.University of Technology SydneyGenerative AI (Text, Image, Music, Video)Explainable AI (XAI)Empathy & Emotional DesignCHI
Rethinking External Communication of Autonomous Vehicles: Is the Field Converging, Diverging, or Stalling?As autonomous vehicles enter public spaces, external human–machine interfaces are proposed to support communication with external road users. A decade of research has produced hundreds of studies and reviews, yet it remains unclear whether the field is converging on shared principles or diverging across approaches. We present a multi-dimensional analysis of 620 publications, complemented by industry deployments and regulatory documents, to track research evolution and identify convergence. The analysis reveals several field-level patterns. First, convergence on a safety-first core: simple visual cues that clarify intent. Second, sustained divergence in necessity and implementation. Third, a progressive filtering funnel: broad exploration in research and concepts narrows in deployment and is codified by regulation into a minimal set of permitted signals. These insights point to a shift in emphasis for future work, from producing new prototypes toward consolidating evidence, clarifying points of contention, and developing frameworks that can adapt across contexts.2026TTTram Thi Minh Tran et al.School of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of SydneyExternal HMI (eHMI) — Communication with Pedestrians & CyclistsCHI
Haru in the Care Network: Stakeholder Perspectives on Privacy with Social Robots in PediatricsSocial robots are beginning to be introduced as technologies to support the collective networks supporting pediatric treatment, but few studies on children's perceptions of privacy with robots in hospitals. Through a mixed-method approach, we introduced hypothetical vignettes and engaged in discussion with 15 youth who are either receiving cancer treatments or are in remission (ages 6-25), 11 of their parents, and 5 out of 8 of their clinical staff to learn how stakeholders in pediatric oncology discuss privacy concerns with child-robot interactions. Our thematic analysis imparts how stakeholders perceive robots as social, non-authoritative extensions of the hospital's care network. As 1) mediators of social interaction among various stakeholders, 2) companions for children and 3) informational tools for clinicians when consent is given by the family, social robots can maximize their social utility within care systems while critically engaging with the comfort and privacy preferences of stakeholders. We emphasize how assistive technologies in pediatrics should be co-designed within communities for identifying appropriate roles and returning agency to stakeholders as they navigate the blurry boundaries of privacy in healthcare.2025LLLeigh M Levinson et al.Perspectives on Data PrivacyCSCW
Animal Interaction with Autonomous Mobility Systems: Designing for Multi-Species CoexistenceAutonomous mobility systems increasingly operate in environments shared with animals, from urban pets to wildlife. However, their design has largely focused on human interaction, with limited understanding of how non-human species perceive, respond to, or are affected by these systems. Motivated by research in Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI) and more-than-human design, this study investigates animal interactions with autonomous mobility through a multi-method approach combining a scoping review (45 articles), online ethnography (39 YouTube videos and 11 Reddit discussions), and expert interviews (8 participants). Our analysis surfaces five key areas of concern: Physical Impact (e.g., collisions, failures to detect), Behavioural Effects (e.g., avoidance, stress), Accessibility Concerns (particularly for service animals), Ethics and Regulations, and Urban Disturbance. We conclude with design and policy directions aimed at supporting multi-species coexistence in the age of autonomous systems. This work underscores the importance of incorporating non-human perspectives to ensure safer, more inclusive futures for all species.2025TTTram Thi Minh Tran et al.Ubiquitous ComputingCommunity Engagement & Civic TechnologyHuman-Nature Relationships (More-than-Human Design)AutoUI
TeamVision : An AI-powered Learning Analytics System for Supporting Reflection in Team-based Healthcare SimulationHealthcare simulations help learners develop teamwork and clinical skills in a risk-free setting, promoting reflection on real-world practices through structured debriefs. However, despite video's potential, it is hard to use, leaving a gap in providing concise, data-driven summaries for supporting effective debriefing. Addressing this, we present TeamVision, an AI-powered multimodal learning analytics (MMLA) system that captures voice presence, automated transcriptions, body rotation, and positioning data, offering educators a dashboard to guide debriefs immediately after simulations. We conducted an in-the-wild study with 56 teams (221 students) and recorded debriefs led by six teachers using TeamVision. Follow-up interviews with 15 students and five teachers explored perceptions of its usefulness, accuracy, and trustworthiness. This paper examines: i) how TeamVision was used in debriefing, ii) what educators found valuable/challenging, and iii) perceptions of its effectiveness. Results suggest TeamVision enables flexible debriefing and highlights the challenges and implications of using AI-powered systems in healthcare simulation.2025VEVanessa Echeverria et al.Monash University, Department of Human Centred ComputingIntelligent Tutoring Systems & Learning AnalyticsTelemedicine & Remote Patient MonitoringSurgical Assistance & Medical TrainingCHI
AppAgent: Multimodal Agents as Smartphone UsersRecent advancements in large language models (LLMs) have led to the creation of intelligent agents capable of performing complex tasks. This paper introduces a novel LLM-based multimodal agent framework designed to operate smartphone applications. Our framework allows the agent to mimic human-like interactions such as tapping and swiping through a simplified action space, eliminating the need for system back-end access and enhancing its versatility across various apps. Central to the agent's functionality is an innovative in-context learning method, where it either autonomously explores or learns from human demonstrations, creating a knowledge base used to execute complex tasks across diverse applications. We conducted extensive testing with our agent on over 50 tasks spanning 10 applications, ranging from social media to sophisticated image editing tools. Additionally, a user study confirmed the agent's superior performance and practicality in handling a diverse array of high-level tasks, demonstrating its effectiveness in real-world settings. Our project page is available at \url{https://appagent-official.github.io/}.2025CZChi Zhang et al.Westlake University, School of EngineeringHuman-LLM CollaborationCHI
AEGIS: Human Attention-based Explainable Guidance for Intelligent Vehicle SystemsImproving decision-making capabilities in Autonomous Intelligent Vehicles (AIVs) has been a heated topic in recent years. Despite advancements, training machine to capture regions of interest for comprehensive scene understanding, like human perception and reasoning, remains a significant challenge. This study introduces a novel framework, Human Attention-based Explainable Guidance for Intelligent Vehicle Systems (AEGIS). AEGIS utilizes human attention, converted from eye-tracking, to guide reinforcement learning (RL) models to identify critical regions of interest for decision-making. AEGIS uses a pre-trained human attention model to guide reinforcement learning (RL) models to identify critical regions of interest for decision-making. By collecting 1.2 million frames from 20 participants across six scenarios, AEGIS pre-trains a model to predict human attention patterns. The learned human attention guides the RL agent’s focus on task-relevant objects, prioritizes critical instances, enhances robustness in unseen environments, and leads to faster learning convergence. This approach enhances interpretability by making machine attention more comparable to human attention and thus enhancing the RL agent’s performance in diverse driving scenarios. The code is available in https://github.com/ALEX95GOGO/AEGIS.2025ZZZhuoli Zhuang et al.University of Technology Sydney, School of Computer Science, FEITHead-Up Display (HUD) & Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)Eye Tracking & Gaze InteractionExplainable AI (XAI)CHI
Peek into the `White-Box': A Field Study on Bystander Engagement with Urban Robot UncertaintyUncertainty inherently exists in the autonomous decision-making process of robots. Involving humans in resolving this uncertainty not only helps robots mitigate it but is also crucial for improving human-robot interactions. However, in public urban spaces filled with unpredictability, robots often face heightened uncertainty without direct human collaborators. This study investigates how robots can engage bystanders for assistance in public spaces when encountering uncertainty and examines how these interactions impact bystanders' perceptions and attitudes towards robots. We designed and tested a speculative `peephole' concept that engages bystanders in resolving urban robot uncertainty. Our design is guided by considerations of non-intrusiveness and eliciting initiative in an implicit manner, considering bystanders' unique role as non-obligated participants in relation to urban robots. Drawing from field study findings, we highlight the potential of involving bystanders to mitigate urban robots' technological imperfections to both address operational challenges and foster public acceptance of urban robots. Furthermore, we offer design implications to encourage bystanders' involvement in mitigating the imperfections.2025XYXinyan Yu et al.School of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of Sydney, Design LabHuman-Robot Collaboration (HRC)Community Engagement & Civic TechnologyTechnology Ethics & Critical HCICHI
A Longitudinal Study on the Effects of Circadian Fatigue on Sound Source Identification and Localization using a Heads-Up DisplayCircadian fatigue, largely caused by sleep deprivation, significantly diminishes alertness and situational awareness. This issue becomes critical in environments where auditory awareness—such as responding to verbal instructions or localizing alarms—is essential for performance and safety. While head-mounted displays have demonstrated potential in enhancing situational awareness through visual cues, their effectiveness in supporting sound localization under the influence of circadian fatigue remains under-explored. This study addresses this knowledge gap through a longitudinal study (N=19) conducted over 2–4 months, tracking participants’ fatigue levels through daily assessments. Participants were called in to perform non-line-of-sight sound source identification and localization tasks in a virtual environment under high- and low-fatigue conditions, both with and without head-up display assistance. The results show task-dependent effects of circadian fatigue. Unexpectedly, reaction times were shorter across all tasks under high-fatigue conditions. Yet, in sound localization, where precision is key, the HUD offered the greatest performance enhancement by reducing pointing error. The results suggest the auditory channel is a robust means of enhancing situational awareness and providing support for incorporating spatial audio cues and HUD as standard features in augmented reality platforms for fatigue-prone scenarios.2025AMAlexander G Minton et al.University of Technology Sydney, School of Computer Science, FEITHead-Up Display (HUD) & Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)Eye Tracking & Gaze InteractionCHI
Nudging with Narrative Visualization: Communicating to a Young Adult Audience in the PandemicEffective narrative visualization communicates information by integrating story-telling and data visualization in a comprehensible, compelling manner. The compelling aspect of effective narrative visualization consequentially results in the potential to shift the attitude of an audience. However, there is much to understand about how narrative visualization can best be designed to influence target audiences. This paper focuses on an empirical experiment where we examined the effects of two communication strategies - anthropomorphism and personal identification - on a young adult audience. In particular, we wanted to understand which strategy, when integrated into narrative visualization, can nudge a specific audience’s attitude towards greater consideration in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results indicated that the personal identification communication strategy was the most successful in nudging participants. This study contributes a better grasp of how technologies such as narrative visualization, using different communication strategies, can deliver more targeted messaging.2024NENina Errey et al.Session 3d: Teens in the Digital Age: Safety, Creativity, and Well-BeingCSCW
Encouraging Bystander Assistance for Urban Robots: Introducing Playful Robot Help-Seeking as a StrategyRobots in urban environments will inevitably encounter situations beyond their capabilities (e.g., delivery robots unable to press traffic light buttons), necessitating bystander assistance. These spontaneous collaborations possess challenges distinct from traditional human-robot collaboration, requiring design investigation and tailored interaction strategies. This study investigates playful help-seeking as a strategy to encourage such bystander assistance. We compared our designed playful help-seeking concepts against two existing robot help-seeking strategies: verbal speech and emotional expression. To assess these strategies and their impact on bystanders' experience and attitudes towards urban robots, we conducted a virtual reality evaluation study with 24 participants. Playful help-seeking enhanced people's willingness to help robots, a tendency more pronounced in scenarios requiring greater physical effort. Verbal help-seeking was perceived less polite, raising stronger discomfort assessments. Emotional expression help-seeking elicited empathy while leading to lower cognitive trust. The triangulation of quantitative and qualitative results highlights considerations for robot help-seeking from bystanders.2024XYXinyan Yu et al.Social Robot InteractionHuman-Robot Collaboration (HRC)DIS
Shared Bodily Fusion: Leveraging Inter-Body Electrical Muscle Stimulation for Social PlayTraditional games like "Tag" rely on shared control via inter-body interactions (IBIs) – touching, pushing, and pulling – that foster emotional and social connection. Digital games largely limit IBIs, with players using their bodies as input to control virtual avatars instead. Our “Shared Bodily Fusion” approach addresses this by fusing players' bodies through a mediating computer, creating a shared input and output system. We demonstrate this approach with "Hidden Touch", a game where a novel social electrical muscle stimulation system transforms touch (input) into muscle actuations (output), facilitating IBIs. Through a study (n=27), we identified three player experience themes. Informed by these findings and our design process, we mapped their trajectories across our three experiential spaces – threshold, tolerance, and precision – which collectively form our design framework. This framework facilitates the creation of future digital games where IBIs are intrinsic, ultimately promoting the many benefits of social play.2024RPRakesh Patibanda et al.Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS)Serious & Functional GamesMultiplayer & Social GamesDIS
"This is the kind of experience I want to have": Supporting the experiences of queer young men on social platforms through designQueer young men (similar to others in the LGBTQ+ community) depend heavily on social platforms but their use can often be problematic. Their needs are often not adequately considered in the design of general platforms and they can be exposed to intra-community harms on LGBTQ+ specific platforms such as dating apps. To explore how social platform design could be improved to better support the needs of queer young men, we conducted a co-design study. We recruited 13 queer men working in technology design to generate new concepts for social platform features. We then refined these concepts and evaluated them in group sessions with end users, a different cohort of 15 queer young men. Here we present mockups of the concepts and findings from evaluations. Our findings show specific ways that providing more agency to social platform users could improve their experiences and we discuss implications for design.2024TATommaso Armstrong et al.Social Platform Design & User BehaviorGender & Race Issues in HCILGBTQ+ Community Technology DesignDIS
From Agent Autonomy to Casual Collaboration: A Design Investigation on Help-Seeking Urban RobotsAs intelligent agents transition from controlled to uncontrolled environments, they face challenges that sometimes exceed their operational capabilities. In many scenarios, they rely on assistance from bystanders to overcome those challenges. Using robots that get stuck in urban settings as an example, we investigate how agents can prompt bystanders into providing assistance. We conducted four focus group sessions with 17 participants that involved bodystorming, where participants assumed the role of robots and bystander pedestrians in role-playing activities. Generating insights from both assumed robot and bystander perspectives, we were able to identify potential non-verbal help-seeking strategies (i.e., addressing bystanders, cueing intentions, and displaying emotions) and factors shaping the assistive behaviours of bystanders. Drawing on these findings, we offer design considerations for help-seeking urban robots and other agents operating in uncontrolled environments to foster casual collaboration, encompass expressiveness, align with agent social categories, and curate appropriate incentives.2024XYXinyan Yu et al.School of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of SydneyDomestic RobotsSocial Robot InteractionCHI
Go-Go Biome: Evaluation of a Casual Game for Gut Health Engagement and ReflectionExperts emphasise that maintaining a healthy gut microbial balance requires the public to understand factors beyond diet, such as physical activity, lifestyle, and other real-world influences. Games as experiential systems are known to foster playful engagement and reflection. We propose a novel approach to promoting activity engagement for gut health and its reflection through the design of the Go-Go Biome game. The game simulates the interplay between friendly and unfriendly gut microbes, encouraging real-world activity engagement for gut-microbial balance through interactive visuals, unstructured play mechanics, and reflective design principles. A field study with 14 participants revealed that important facets of our game design led to awareness, playful visualisation, and reflection on factors influencing gut health. Our findings suggest four design lenses– bio-temporality, visceral conversations, wellness comparison, and inner discovery, to aid future playful design explorations to foster gut health engagement and reflection.2024NPNandini Pasumarthy et al.RMIT UniversitySerious & Functional GamesDiet Tracking & Nutrition ManagementCHI
A Design Space for Intelligent and Interactive Writing AssistantsIn our era of rapid technological advancement, the research landscape for writing assistants has become increasingly fragmented across various research communities. We seek to address this challenge by proposing a design space as a structured way to examine and explore the multidimensional space of intelligent and interactive writing assistants. Through community collaboration, we explore five aspects of writing assistants: task, user, technology, interaction, and ecosystem. Within each aspect, we define dimensions and codes by systematically reviewing 115 papers while leveraging the expertise of researchers in various disciplines. Our design space aims to offer researchers and designers a practical tool to navigate, comprehend, and compare the various possibilities of writing assistants, and aid in the design of new writing assistants.2024MLMina Lee et al.Microsoft ResearchHuman-LLM CollaborationAI-Assisted Creative WritingCreative Collaboration & Feedback SystemsCHI
Grand Challenges in SportsHCIThe field of Sports Human-Computer Interaction (SportsHCI) investigates interaction design to support a physically active human being. Despite growing interest and dissemination of SportsHCI literature over the past years, many publications still focus on solving specific problems in a given sport. We believe in the benefit of generating fundamental knowledge for SportsHCI more broadly to advance the field as a whole. To achieve this, we aim to identify the grand challenges in SportsHCI, which can help researchers and practitioners in developing a future research agenda. Hence, this paper presents a set of grand challenges identified in a five-day workshop with 22 experts who have previously researched, designed, and deployed SportsHCI systems. Addressing these challenges will drive transformative advancements in SportsHCI, fostering better athlete performance, athlete-coach relationships, spectator engagement, but also immersive experiences for recreational sports or exercise motivation, and ultimately, improve human well-being.2024DEDon Samitha Elvitigala et al.Monash UniversityGame UX & Player BehaviorSerious & Functional GamesMental Health Apps & Online Support CommunitiesCHI