BIO

Ran Zhou （周然） is a designer and researcher interested in tangible interfaces, design research, and expressive haptics. She is currently a Ph.D. student in Creative Technology and Design at ATLAS Institute, University of Colorado, Boulder. She is advised by Prof. Daniel Leithinger in THING Lab. Prior to joining ATLAS, she graduated with an MFA in Design and Technology at Parsons School of Design, advised by Prof. Harpreet Sareen. She also holds a bachelor's degree in Architecture and Urban Planning from Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

Her research is focused on designing expressive haptics through wearable technology to create more meaningful, connecting, and engaging interactive experiences. In her design practice, she is passionate about enhancing digital interactions through tangible interfaces and recreating the traditional human-object ritual with emerging technologies, which she calls “High-tech Nostalgia.”

 
 

education

University of Colorado, Boulder Boulder, CO, USA
2021.1 - Present
Ph.D. in Creative Technology and Design
Advisor: Prof. Daniel Leithinger

Parsons School of Design NYC, NY, USA
2018.8 - 2020.5
MFA Design and Technology
Advisor: Prof. Harpreet Sareen

Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, Hubei, China
2013.9 - 2018.6
B.Eng in Urban and Rural Planning
School of Architecture and Urban Planning

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

ATLAS Institute, University of Colorado, Boulder Boulder, CO, USA
Research Assistant & Research Affiliate, THING Lab
Jan. 2021 - present
Advisor: Daniel Leithinger

University of Chicago Chicago, IL, USA
Visiting Doctoral Researcher, AxLab
Jan. 2024 - present
Host Professor: Ken Nakagaki

KTH Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, Sweden
Visiting Doctoral Researcher, Interaction Design Team
Sep. 2023 - Dec. 2023
Host Professor: Madeline Balaam

University of Calgary Calgary, AB, Canada
Visiting Doctoral Researcher, Programmable Reality Lab
Feb. 2023 - Mar. 2023
Host Professor: Ryo Suzuki

Parsons School of Design New York, NY, USA
Research Assistant
Jan. 2020 - Dec. 2020
Advisor: Harpreet Sareen

PUBLICATIONS

Peer-Reviewed CONFERENCE PUBLICATIONS

[C3] Yuzhen Zhang*, Ruixiang Han*, Ran Zhou*, Peter Gyory, Clement Zheng, Patrick C. Shih, Ellen Yi-Luen Do, Malte F Jung, Wendy Ju, Daniel Leithinger. 2024. Wizard of Props: Mixed Reality Prototyping with Physical Props to Design Responsive Environments. In Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (TEI’24) (*equal contribution)

[C2] Ran Zhou, Zachary Schwemler, Akshay Baweja, Harpreet Sareen, Casey Lee Hunt, and Daniel Leithinger. 2023. TactorBots: A Haptic Design Toolkit for Out-of-lab Exploration of Emotional Robotic Touch. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’23)

[C1] Ran Zhou, Harpreet Sareen, Yufei Zhang and Daniel Leithinger. 2022. EmotiTactor: Exploring How Designers Approach Emotional Robotic Touch. In Proceedings of the 2022 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '22) Best Pictorial Award Honorable Mention

Peer-Reviewed JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS

[J1] Sandra Bae, Rishi Vanukuru, Ruhan Yang, Peter Gyory, Ran Zhou, Ellen Do and Danielle Szafir. 2022. Cultivating Visualization Literacy for Children Through Curiosity and Play. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (IEEE VIS’22)

Peer-Reviewed DEMO AND WIP PUBLICATIONS

[D3] Ran Zhou, Zachary Schwemler, Akshay Baweja, Harpreet Sareen, Casey Hunt, and Daniel Leithinger. 2023. Demonstrating TactorBots: A Haptic Design Toolkit for Exploration of Emotional Robotic Touch In Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’23) Best Demo Award Runner Up

[D2] Ran Zhou, Yanzhe Wu and Harpreet Sareen. 2020. HexTouch: A Wearable Haptic Robot for Complementary Interactions to Companion Agents in Virtual Reality. In SIGGRAPH Asia 2020 Emerging Technologies (SA ’20)

[D1] Ran Zhou, Yanzhe Wu and Harpreet Sareen. 2020. HexTouch: Affective Robot Touch for Complementary Interactions to Companion Agents in Virtual Reality. In 26th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST '20) Best Demo Award

[WIP 1] Ran Zhou and Harpreet Sareen. 2020. EmotiTactor: Emotional Expression of Robotic Physical Contact. In Companion Publication of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS’ 20 Companion)

WORKSHOP ORGANIZATION

[W1] Daniel Leithinger, Ran Zhou, Eric Acome, Ahad Mujtaba Rauf, Teng Han, Craig Shultz, Joe Mullenbach. 2023. Electro-actuated Materials for Future Haptic Interfaces. In The 36th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST ’23 Adjunct)

Awards

Design Awards

Research Awards

  • Best Demo Award Runner Up - CHI 2023 (TactorBots)

  • Best Pictorial Award Honorable Mention - DIS 2022 (EmotiTactor)

  • Best Demo Award - VRST 2020 (HexTouch)

SELECTED PRESS

  • Arduino - TactorBots is a complete toolkit for robotic touch. May. 2023

  • Geeky Gadgets - TactorBots robotic touch haptic design toolkit. May. 2023

  • IxDA Awards - TactorBots: A Haptic Design Toolkit for Exploration of Emotional Robotic Touch. Mar. 2023

  • Fast Company - TactorBots: A Haptic Design Toolkit for Exploration of Emotional Robotic Touch. Sept. 2022

  • NYC Media Lab - "Pat Me" Robot, Emotional Robot Comes To Heal Loneliness. Sept. 2019

Contact

zhou.ran09@gmail.com

CV

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