About the Workshop
This workshop brings together ExpAR collaborators to share current research, demonstrate ARBot and SensorFlex capabilities, and identify concrete opportunities for cross-institution projects.
The workshop gives participants shared technical context, space to build quick connections, opportunities to exchange current work through lightning talks, hands-on experience with ARBot and SensorFlex demos, and concrete next steps for follow-up working groups.
Sponsor Acknowledgment: This workshop is made possible through the generous support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Computer Science Department. We gratefully acknowledge their commitment to fostering collaborative research in immersive technologies.
Logistics
- Date: Friday, July 17, 2026
- Location: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Fuller Labs, room 320
- Registration: Registration is now closed.
*Non-WPI participants may receive $400–$650 toward eligible travel expenses, subject to funding availability and WPI policy. Additional support may be considered for longer-distance travel.
Schedule
8:30 - 9:00
Arrival
Participants will check in, pick up workshop materials, and enjoy light
refreshments.
9:00 - 9:15
Opening Remarks by Greg Peterson
Speaker: Greg Peterson, National Science Foundation and University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Bio
Greg Peterson is a program director in the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering and the cluster lead for computer systems research. He is also a professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Prior to joining NSF, he was department head for Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UT and the director of the National Institute for Computational Sciences, the UT supercomputing center operated for NSF. His primary areas of interest include advanced computer architectures, high-performance reconfigurable computing, computational science, electronic systems design automation, simulation, and performance evaluation. His research support has come from the National Science Foundation, Air Force Research Laboratory, DARPA, ORNL, and several industrial partners.
9:15 - 10:00
Keynote: Kicking Off the Flywheel of AI + XR Innovations with XR Blocks by
Ruofei Du
Speaker: Ruofei Du, Interactive Perception & Graphics Lead at Google XR
Abstract
The concurrent revolutions in generative AI and spatial computing are fundamentally transforming how we work, communicate, and live. While AI research is accelerated by mature frameworks and benchmarks, inventing AI-driven XR interactions remains a high-friction process. This raises a critical question: how can we make AI + XR technology more accessible and useful to creators?
This talk first explores a continuum of research designed to augment human abilities in XR, including Geollery, Depth Lab, Visual Captions, Sensible Agent, and Agent Hands. Building upon foundational systems like Visual Blocks and InstructPipe, we empower creators with visual programming tools that better align with human intent.
Finally, we present XR Blocks, a cross-platform framework to accelerate human-centered AI + XR innovation. Driven by the mission of “minimizing code from idea to reality,” XR Blocks provides core abstractions and samples that empower creators to move from concept to interactive AI + XR applications. We conclude the talk with live demonstrations of Vibe Coding XR, offering a visionary glimpse into the future and the automatic evolution of the AI + XR flywheel.
Bio
Ruofei Du is the Interactive Perception & Graphics Lead at Google XR, where he drives AI + XR innovations. An established expert in his field, he serves as an Associate Chair on the program committees for both ACM CHI (2021–2026) and UIST (2022–2026), and is an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology. Dr. Du’s extensive contributions include 7 US patents and over 45 peer-reviewed publications in top venues across HCI, Computer Graphics, and Computer Vision, including CHI, SIGGRAPH, UIST, TVCG, CVPR, and ICCV. His research has garnered significant recognition, including a Distinguished Paper Award in ACM IMWUT, Best Paper Awards at SIGGRAPH Web3D 2016 and SIGGRAPH I3D 2024, and multiple Honorable Mention Awards at CHI and TVCG. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Website: duruofei.com
10:00 - 10:25
Icebreaker Activity: Immersive Interest Map
Session Chair: Yiqin Zhao, Rochester Institute of Technology.
Research-purposeful warm-up: quick cross-institution introductions plus an interest map of
expertise, open problems, and collaboration wishes.
10:25 - 10:45
Coffee Break
Informal discussion and setup buffer.
10:45 - 12:15
Lightning Talks (8 slots)
Short talks from participating institutions. Suggested format: 10 minutes
each, focused on current work, available infrastructure, and one collaboration ask.
10:45 - 10:55
Yanming Xiu (Duke University), Toward Safe, Trustworthy and User-Centered
Augmented Reality User Experience.
10:55 - 11:05
Majd Khalaf (Northeastern University), CapGaze: Capacitive Sensing-Based
Eye Tracking on Smart Glasses.
11:05 - 11:15
Tao Han (New Jersey Institute of Technology), Continuous Wearable
Perception via Algorithm-Hardware Co-Design.
11:15 - 11:25
Xueyu Hou (University of Maine, ECE Department), When to Sleep:
Break-Even-Time-Aware Power Management for Commercial AR Headsets.
11:25 - 11:35
Sandip Kundu (UMass Amherst), Sky to Edge-Cloud: Heterogeneous
Computation Offloading for Energy-Efficient Drone Computing.
11:35 - 11:45
Wenzheng Zhao (Worcester Polytechnic Institute), HRI Dataset.
11:45 - 11:55
Ruolin Ye (Cornell University), Human-Centric Data at Scale for Embodied
AI.
11:55 - 12:05
Ashkan Ganj (Worcester Polytechnic Institute), ARCADE.
12:15 - 13:45
Lunch
Travel-aware lunch block. If going off campus, use a reservation/preorder
when possible; if lunch stays light/on campus, plan an optional group dinner after the
workshop.
13:45 - 14:45
Tour the ARBot: Tutorial and Demonstration
Presenter(s): Harsh Chhajed and Harsh Shah, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Guided tour, tutorial, and demonstration of ARBot capabilities, current
setup, and opportunities for shared experimentation.
14:45 - 15:45
SensorFlex Tutorial and Demo
Presenter(s): Yiqin Zhao, Rochester Institute of Technology
Hands-on walkthrough of SensorFlex capabilities, sensor data management,
data collection workflows, and integration points with AR applications.
15:45 - 16:00
Short Break
Short reset before collaborative planning.
16:00 - 16:45
Breakout Session: Shared Research Questions
Small groups use a shared document template to define priority questions,
available assets, technical gaps, and possible collaboration themes.
Group 1
Hardware Lead: Tian Guo
Group 2
Software Lead: Yiqin Zhao
Group 3
Privacy Lead: Sheng Wei
16:45 - 17:05
Breakout Synthesis: Shared Notes and One-Slide Summary
Each group turns its shared notes into one slide or a concise written
summary with 1-2 proposed next steps and a lead/contact.
17:05 - 17:30
Report-Out and Wrap-Up
Each group gives a brief report-out.
Team
