Alex Olwal, Ph.D.

Alex Olwal, Ph.D.

Research & Engineering Leader / Product Innovation for AI and AR

Human—AI Interaction · Multimodal Interfaces · Augmented Reality · Wearables · Human—Computer Interaction · Accessibility · Interaction Technology · Ubiquitous Computing

Founded and led various teams at Google, including the Interaction Lab; Tech & Society 2024-2025, Augmented Reality 2020-2024, Research 2018-2020, ATAP 2017-2018, Wearables 2015-2017, [x] 2014-2015. Academic research conducted at MIT, Columbia University, University of California, KTH (Royal Institute of Technology), and Microsoft Research, with much appreciated collaborators and contributors at the same or other institutions. Also, thank you Stanford University, Rhode Island School of Design and KTH for the opportunity to teach.

Selected Projects All Projects Research Publications Google Scholar Open Source

Shape Displays: Spatial Interaction with Dynamic Physical Form

Physical Telepresence uses shape capture and display to physically enhance interactions with remote people and environments.

inFORM dynamically changes material and form to continuously adapt the physical and virtual interface to user interactions.

Sublimate explores rapid and fluid transitions between physical and visual representations of dynamic digital content.

Jamming User Interfaces enable programmable stiffness, haptic feedback and deformation, for new types of flexible and shape-changing interactions.

Physical Telepresence: Shape Capture and Display for Embodied, Computer-mediated Remote Collaboration
Leithinger, D., Follmer, S., Olwal, A., and Ishii, H.

Proceedings of UIST 2014 (ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology), Honolulu, HI, Oct 5-8, 2014, pp. 461-470.

UIST 2014

Shape Displays: Spatial Interaction with Dynamic Physical Form
Leithinger, D., Follmer, S., Olwal, A., and Ishii, H.

CG&A 2015 (IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, Vol. 35, no 5), Sep-Oct, 2015, pp. 417-426.

CG&A 2015

inFORM: Dynamic Physical Affordances and Constraints through Shape and Object Actuation
Follmer, S., Leithinger, D., Olwal, A., Hogge, A., and Ishii, H.

Proceedings of UIST 2013 (ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology), St Andrews, UK, Oct 8-11, 2013, pp. 417-426.

UIST 2013

Sublimate: State-Changing Virtual and Physical Rendering to Augment Interaction with Shape Displays
Leithinger, D., Follmer, S., Olwal, A., Luescher, S., Hogge, A., Lee, J., and Ishii, H.

Proceedings of CHI 2013 - Best Paper Honorable Mention Award (Top 5%) (SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems), Paris, France, Apr 27-May 2, 2013, pp. 1441-1450.

CHI 2013 - Best Paper Honorable Mention Award (Top 5%)

Jamming User Interfaces: Programmable Particle Stiffness and Sensing for Malleable and Shape-Changing Devices
Follmer, S., Leithinger, D., Olwal, A., Cheng, N., and Ishii, H.

Proceedings of UIST 2012 - Best Paper Award (Top 1%) (ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology), Cambridge, MA, Oct 7-10, 2012, pp. 519-528.

UIST 2012 - Best Paper Award (Top 1%)

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