
We invent and design actuated UI tech that 'actuates' people. Interaction Design/HCI/ActuatedTUI/Robotics/Interactive Art @UChicagoCS led by @ken0324
Chicago, IL, USA
Joined August 2021
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AxLab - Actuated Experience Lab retweeted
10月からシカゴ大学コンピュータサイエンス研究科のポスドクに着任させていただきました!研究室は、Ken Nakagakiさん(@ken0324)が主宰するAxLab (@AxLab_UChicago)に所属させていただきます!
ここで研究できることが本当に楽しみです。あっと驚くような研究や作品を、全力で作っていきたいと思います!
渡航にあたっては、海外学振に加え、ASPIREで鳴海さん(@koya_narumi)に助けていただき、シカゴ大に行けることになりました。本当に感謝しかありません。全力で研究して恩返しさせていただきたいです。
引き続きよろしくお願いいたします!🙇♂️
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I started a new position as a Postdoc in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Chicago this October! I've joined AxLab, led by Ken Nakagaki!
I'm really excited to conduct research here. I hope to create exciting and surprising research projects and artworks!
This opportunity was made possible by the JSPS Overseas Research Fellowship and the support of Koya Narumi through JST ASPIRE. I'm truly grateful for all the support. I will do my best to make the most of this opportunity!
AxLab - Actuated Experience Lab retweeted
.@AxLab_UChicago Group Photo — Fall 2026!
We kicked off the new academic year by welcoming two new members: Takafumi Morita @tm_fantasista, a postdoc researcher (AxLab’s first postdoc!), and Catherine L., a pre-doc master’s student 🙌🙌
AxLab - Actuated Experience Lab retweeted
Replying to @AxLab_UChicago
@AxLab_UChicago 's card shape robots, CARDinality, could have been a nice addition to @MarkRober 's latest video ;)
.@MarkRober challenged engineers to build discreet devices — from robotic chips to loaded dice — to see if they could fool @CrunchLabs Casino. hackster.io/news/mark-rober-…
AxLab - Actuated Experience Lab retweeted
Computers used to stay in one place at home. Now they follow us everywhere—into bed, bathroom, and our family time📱
@AxLab_UChicago's #CHI2026 paper Attention Nook brings back spatial boundaries through situated friction.
New video, narrated by Anup 👇
youtube.com/watch?v=3njRXd1C…
AxLab - Actuated Experience Lab retweeted
Attending #UIST2026? Interested in tinkering with new creative drawing tools?
Please consider signing up for the "Drawing on Materials and Processes" workshop led by Lea from CMU, Ilan from MIT, and Tucker + Anup from @AxLab_UChicago!
uist.acm.org/2026/workshops/…
AxLab - Actuated Experience Lab retweeted
.@willayangy just appeared on FOX 32 Chicago’s local live news show, ChicagoLIVE, sharing her newly published work, BloomBeacon🌸, developed at @AxLab_UChicago, in a 15-minute interview!
Thank you to @Bret_Buganski for hosting Willa and highlighting her work! @fox32news @UChicago
AxLab - Actuated Experience Lab retweeted
.@AxLab_UChicago's BloomBeacon uses persistence-of-vision to produce on-demand floating touchscreens. hackster.io/news/the-bloombe…
AxLab - Actuated Experience Lab retweeted
What can a simple toy teach us about human-robot interaction? UChicago researchers are using PopTuber, a system that transforms plastic pop tubes into dynamic 3D shapes with just five motors, advancing shape-changing materials.
Your Sunday Watch: ms.spr.ly/6013vNJSV
AxLab - Actuated Experience Lab retweeted

Microchip Makes@MicrochipMakesJun 4
United States
United StatesConnected via United States App StoreAccount-level information, not a live location or per-post device.
.@AxLab_UChicago's PopTuber is like a wire bender for pop tubes, turning them into complex and stable 3D shapes. hackaday.com/2026/06/01/like…
AxLab - Actuated Experience Lab retweeted

Microchip Makes@MicrochipMakesJun 2
United States
United StatesConnected via United States App StoreAccount-level information, not a live location or per-post device.
.@AxLab_UChicago researchers developed an Arduino MKR WiFi 1010 (SAM D21)-controlled robotic drawing tool to support dynamic mark-making and direct creative actions at the texture level. hackaday.com/2026/04/25/penp…
AxLab - Actuated Experience Lab retweeted
This is PopTuber, a machine that dynamically reshapes poptubes, corrugated tube-like fidget toy whose shape can be digitally defined by a series of multi-stable bellow mechanisms.
A Demo by @AxLab_UChicago 's Willa at #TEI2026 in Chicago @tei_conf
Touchable POV Display Blooms In Mid Air ift.tt/g4QBIjL
AxLab - Actuated Experience Lab retweeted
I’ll take that. Wild is the word. When I first pitched the idea it sounded wild and it still does ;)
Very cool research from @axlab_uchicago.
BloomBeacon makes a touchable POV display with soft spinning arms: LEDs on one side, capacitive pads on the other, blooming into a mid-air UI surface.
Wild HCI idea.
🤖For more details:
hackaday.com/2026/05/23/touc…
#HCI #POV
Developed by researchers at @AxLab_UChicago, penPal is an Arduino MKR WiFi 1010-controlled robotic handheld drawing tool that's capable of generating a variety of marks and textures: axlab.cs.uchicago.edu/projec…
AxLab - Actuated Experience Lab retweeted
Very cool research from @axlab_uchicago.
BloomBeacon makes a touchable POV display with soft spinning arms: LEDs on one side, capacitive pads on the other, blooming into a mid-air UI surface.
Wild HCI idea.
🤖For more details:
hackaday.com/2026/05/23/touc…
#HCI #POV
AxLab - Actuated Experience Lab retweeted
Ken Nakagaki of @AxLab_UChicago is visiting @NU_CAMD next month to give a talk about his lab’s work. Join us on Thursday, June 11, at 11 a.m. to attend Nakagaki’s presentation about a series of AxLab’s latest research projects.
Learn more: camd.northeastern.edu/events…
AxLab - Actuated Experience Lab retweeted
I'm immensely proud of @AxLab_UChicago members Anup, Willa, and Tucker for giving great #CHI2026 talks today. It was an overwhelming advisor moment to have all the talks happen in one morning. Thanks to everyone who made to attend the talks! Stay tuned for those who missed.
AxLab - Actuated Experience Lab retweeted
All #CHI2026 paper talks from @AxLab_UChicago are on Wednesday (tomorrow)! Don't miss!
🏠 Attention Nooks | 9-10:30AM | P1 Room 131 'Methods, Reviews & Ethical Futures'
🌸 BloomBeacon | 11:15AM - 12:45PM | M2 Room 211/212 'Haptic, Touch, and Physical Display'
✏️ penPal | 11:15AM - 12:45PM | P1 Room 124 'Tangible Interfaces for Electronics, PCBs, and Physical Computing'
AxLab - Actuated Experience Lab retweeted
Remember when computers lived in one room; that spatial constraint made us intentional about the use🏠 Smartphones broke it.
Attention Nooks brings it back — using presence sensing to create situated friction for mindful tech use. @AxLab_UChicago #CHI2026 by Anup Sathya [1/5]
AxLab - Actuated Experience Lab retweeted
Meet penPal — a handheld actuated drawing tool ✏️ penPal opens up new possibilities for textural mark-making, and more broadly, explores a new kind of human-machine creative collaboration — right at the tip of your pen.
#CHI2026 paper from @AxLab_UChicago by Tucker Rae-Grant [1/5]
























