CHING-YI TSAI

ABOUT

I’m a 1st-year Computer Science Ph.D. Student at Princeton University. I research novel interactions and interfaces in virtual, mixed, or physical reality in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).

My works have been recognized and published in top HCI venues such as ACM CHI and UIST, with one Best Paper Award and one Honorable Mention Award.

I received my M.S. degree from National Taiwan University, where I was advised by Prof. Mike Yen Chen. Previously, I was a research assistant at the University of Waterloo’s HCI Lab, advised by Prof. Daniel Vogel, and at National Taiwan University’s CPL Lab, advised by Prof. Lung-Pan Cheng.

In my free time, I’m an enthusiastic jazz saxophonist!

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

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ACM CHI'22 BEST PAPER AWARD | 15 APRIL 2022
AirRacket: Perceptual Design of Ungrounded, Directional Force Feedback to Improve Virtual Racket Sports Experiences

FIRST-AUTHORED

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ACM UIST'24 PAPER | 21 AUG 2024
Gait Gestures: Examining Stride and Foot Strike Variation as an Input Method While Walking

FIRST-AUTHORED

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UIST'22 SIC PEOPLE'S CHOICE | 29 OCT 2022
Garnish into Thin Air

FIRST-AUTHORED

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ACM CHI'24 PAPER | 21 AUG 2024
RoomDreaming: Generative-AI Approach to Facilitating Iterative, Preliminary Interior Design Exploration

CO-AUTHORED

PERSONAL UPDATE

2024 JUL
One first-authored and one co-authored papers accepted to UIST'24
2024 JUL
Arrive Princeton and start my Ph.D. journey!
2024 MAY
Attend CHI24 in Hawaii
2024 JAN
Two co-authored papers accepted to CHI'24
2023 NOV
Attend UIST23 in San Francisco, California, USA (for AirCharge)
2023 JUN
One first-authored paper accepted to UIST'23
2023 APR
Start my obligatory military service in Marine Corps Taiwan (ends in early Aug)
2023 MAR
Finish my visiting in University of Waterloo and be back to Taiwan
2023 FEB
Receive Specitial Recognition for Outstanding Review from CHI'23
2022 NOV
Visit University of Waterloo as a research assistant, advised by Prof. Daniel Vogel
2022 OCT
Garnish into Thin Air wins the UIST'22 Student Innovation Contest People's Choice Award 🏆
2022 OCT
Attend UIST22 in Bend, Oregon, USA (for Student Innovation Contest)
2022 AUG
Graduate from National Taiwan University
2022 MAY
Attend CHI22 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA (for presenting AirRacket)
2022 MAR
AirRacket receives Best Paper Award from CHI'22 🏆
2022 JAN
One first-authored paper accepted to CHI'22
2021 MAR
HapticSeer receives Honorable Mention Award from CHI'21 🏆
2021 JAN
One co-authored paper accepted to CHI'21

PUBLICATION LIST

2024

  1. BY CHIA-AN FAN, EN-HUEI WU, CHIA-YU CHENG, YU-CHENG CHANG, ALVARO LOPEZ, YU CHEN, CHIA-CHEN CHI, YI-SHENG CHAN, CHING-YI TSAI, AND MIKE Y. CHEN
  2. BY SHUN-YU WANG, WEI-CHUNG SU, SERENA CHEN, CHING-YI TSAI, MARTA MISZTAL, KATHERINE M. CHENG, ALWENA LIN, YU CHEN, AND MIKE Y. CHEN
  3. BY PIN-CHUN LU, CHE-WEI WANG, YU LUN HSU, ALVARO LOPEZ, CHING-YI TSAI, CHIAO-JU CHANG, WEI TIAN MIREILLE TAN, LI-CHUN LU, AND MIKE Y. CHEN

2023

  1. BY PO-YU CHEN*, CHING-YI TSAI*, WEI-HSIN WANG*, CHAO-JUNG LAI, CHIA-AN FAN, SHIH CHIN LIN, CHIA-CHEN CHI, AND MIKE Y. CHEN

2021

  1. BY YU-WEI WANG, YU-HSIN LIN, PIN-SUNG KU, YŌKO MIYATAKE, PO-YU CHEN, CHUN-MIAO TSENG, CHING-YI TSAI, AND MIKE Y. CHEN
  2. BY YU-WEI WANG, YU-HSIN LIN, YOKO MIYATAKE, CHING-YI TSAI, PIN-SUNG KU, AND MIKE Y. CHEN
GOOGLE SCHOLAR
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Alternatively, you can access my publication here.

Ching-Yi Tsai

Here is a list of my research, side, and course projects, organized based on my personal preference.

(NOTE: Some parts of this page is still under construction).

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ACM CHI'22 BEST PAPER AWARD | 15 APRIL 2022
AirRacket: Perceptual Design of Ungrounded, Directional Force Feedback to Improve Virtual Racket Sports Experiences

FIRST-AUTHORED

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ACM UIST'24 PAPER | 21 AUG 2024
Gait Gestures: Examining Stride and Foot Strike Variation as an Input Method While Walking

FIRST-AUTHORED

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UIST'22 SIC PEOPLE'S CHOICE | 29 OCT 2022
Garnish into Thin Air

FIRST-AUTHORED

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ACM UIST'23 PAPER | 29 OCT 2023
Amplifying Ungrounded Impact Force by Accumulating Air Propulsion Momentum

FIRST-AUTHORED

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ACM UIST'24 PAPER | 21 AUG 2024
SpinShot: Optimizing Both Physical and Perceived Force Feedback of Flywheel-Based, Directional Impact Handheld

CO-AUTHORED

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ACM CHI'24 PAPER | 21 AUG 2024
RoomDreaming: Generative-AI Approach to Facilitating Iterative, Preliminary Interior Design Exploration

CO-AUTHORED

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ACM CHI'24 PAPER | 21 AUG 2024
Transforming Routine, Everyday Motions into Enjoyable MR Experiences

CO-AUTHORED

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ACM CHI'21 HONORABLE MENTION | 15 APRIL 2021
A Multi-Channel, Black-Box, Platform-Agnostic Approach to Detecting Video Game Events for Real-Time Haptic Feedback

CO-AUTHORED

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ACM TEI'20 PAPER | 8 FEB 2020
MuscleSense: Exploring Weight Sensing Using Wearable Surface Electromyography (sEMG)

CO-AUTHORED

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ARXIV PREPRINT | 8 NOV 2023
Clonemator: Composing Spatiotemporal Clones to Create Interactive Automators in Virtual Reality

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COURSE PROJECT | 24 JUN 2021
Augmented Squat-to-Jump in VR

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COURSE PROJECT | 18 JUN 2021
Animated Everyday Objects with 6-DoF Social Body Gestures

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ACM CHI'21 INTERACTIVITY | 15 APRIL 2021
High-Speed Ungrounded Force Feedback Controllers Using Air Propulsion Jets

CO-AUTHORED

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ACM SIGGRAPH 2021 LABS | 15 AUG 2021
JetController

CO-AUTHORED

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MISC | 21 AUG 2024
Other stuff I made

This is selected media coverage of my work.

New Scientist
Virtual tennis racket uses air jet to recreate feel of hitting a ball
A controller called the AirRacket shoots out a burst of compressed air to produce strong forces similar to those produced when striking a ball. A controller that shoots out bursts of compressed air can simulate racket sports like tennis, badminton and table tennis in virtual reality. Until now, video games such as Wii Sports have used vibrations to give players the sense of hitting a ball in simulated versions of tennis......
MIXED Reality News
AirRacket-Air pressure simulates racket haptics in VR
Haptic VR engineers are not running out of ideas: A racket grip drilled out with a compressed air nozzle is designed to improve the feel of the ball in virtual racket sports like tennis. Current VR controllers can already simulate some rackets quite well, and this works credibly for racket sports with rather gentle ball touches like golf, table tennis or badminton. But the subtleties like hardness or the angle of impact that experienced athletes can feel in reality and intuitively factor into their game are missing in VR simulations. In racket sports with harder, larger balls like tennis or baseball, the power is also missing......
Virtual Reality Times
Researches Use Air to Simulate Haptic Feedback in VR Sports
Over the past few years, researchers and engineers have come up with a gazillion ideas on how to simulate haptic feedback in virtual reality to improve the immersion in VR and AR experiences. In fact, haptic feedback will be an integral component of the metaversal experience. If VR is going to be an everyday part of our lives, including in our lifestyle and workplace, it has to simulate the sensations that we already feel in the real world such as touch, force feedback, smell, temperature, wind, and so forth. A team of researchers has now come up with a haptic feedback mechanism where a racket grip drilled out with a compressed air nozzle has been designed to enhance the feel of the ball in virtual racket sports such as VR tennis......

Alternatively, it can be accessed here.