Dementyev, A., Kanevsky, D., Yang, S., Parvaix, M., Lai, C., and Olwal, A. · olwal.com

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 · Medical Imaging · Shape Displays · Haptics and Robotics · Speech and Language

Founded and led various teams at Google, including the Interaction Lab. AI & Future Technologies 2024-2025, Augmented Language 2020-2024, Research and Machine Intelligence 2018-2020, Advanced Technologies and Projects 2017-2018, Wearables 2015-2017, Google [x] 2014-2015. Academic research conducted at MIT, Columbia University, University of California, KTH (Royal Institute of Technology), and Microsoft Research, with many fantastic collaborators and contributors at the same or other institutions. Held academic affiliations as lecturer and faculty at Stanford University, Rhode Island School of Design and KTH.

Alex Olwal

Augmented Language: Translating Speech in Everyday Glasses

Augmented Language was featured in the Google I/O 2022 Keynote. Live translation of speech in everyday glasses has the potential to make language more universally accessible and understandable.

"Let's see what happens when we take our advances in translation and transcription, and deliver them in your line-of-sight in one of the early prototypes that we have been testing." (Sundar Pichai, CEO Google)

InstructPipe: Generating Visual Blocks Pipelines with Human Instructions and LLMs
Zhou, Z., Jin, J., Phadnis, V., Yuan, X., Jiang, J., Qian, X., Wright, K., Sherwood, M., Mayes, J., Zhou, J., Huang, Y., Xu, Z., Zhang, Y., Lee, J., Olwal, A., Kim, D., Iyengar, R., Li, N., and Du, R.

Proceedings of CHI 2025 - Best Paper Honorable Mention Award (Top 5%) (ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems), Yokohama, Japan, Apr 26-May 1, 2025, pp. 1-22.

CHI 2025 - Best Paper Honorable Mention Award (Top 5%)

Wearable Subtitles: Augmenting Spoken Communication with Lightweight Eyewear for All-day Captioning
Olwal, A., Balke, K., Votintcev, D., Starner, T., Conn, P., Chinh, B., and Corda, B.

Proceedings of UIST 2020 - Best Demo Honorable Mention Award (ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology), Virtual Event, Oct 20-23, 2020, pp. 1108-1120.

UIST 2020 - Best Demo Honorable Mention Award

Quantifying The Effect of Simulator-Based Data Augmentation for Speech Recognition on Augmented Reality Glasses
Arakawa, R., Parvaix, M., Lai, C., Erdogan, H., and Olwal, A.

Proceedings of ICASSP 2024 (IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing), Seoul, South Korea, Apr 14-19, 2024, pp. 726-730.

ICASSP 2024

ChatDirector: Enhancing Video Conferencing with Space-Aware Scene Rendering and Speech-Driven Layout Transition
Qian, X., Tan, F., Zhang, Y., Collins, B., Kim, B., Olwal, A., Ramani, K., and Du, R.

Proceedings of CHI 2024 (SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems), Honolulu, HI, May 11-16, 2024, pp. 1-16.

CHI 2024

Visual Captions: Augmenting Verbal Communication with On-the-fly Visuals
Liu, X, Kirilyuk, V., Yuan, X, Olwal, A., Chi, P., Chen, X., and Du, R.

Proceedings of CHI 2023 (SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems), Hamburg, Germany, Apr 23-28, 2023, pp. 1-20.

CHI 2023

Modeling and Improving Text Stability in Live Captions
Liu, B., Zhang, J., Ferrer, L., Xu, S., Bahirwani, V., Smus, B., Olwal, A., and Du, R.

CHI 2023 Extended Abstracts (SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems), Hamburg, Germany, Apr 23-28, 2023, pp. 1-9.

CHI 2023

Electronic Textile: Making Soft Materials Interactive with Sensors and Displays

Hidden Interfaces create extremely bright displays that can appear and disappear in wood, textile, plastic and mirrored surfaces. User interfaces can therefore blend into natural materials and environments without any compromise to their design or aesthetics.

E-Textile Microinteractions and I/O Braid make textiles interactive. We sense the user's proximity, touch and twist, and detect gestures, such as flicks, slides, pinches, grabs and pats, using machine learning and capactive touch sensing. Fiber optics provide embedded light feedback.

E-Textile Microinteractions: Augmenting Twist with Flick, Slide and Grasp Gestures for Soft Electronics
Olwal, A., Starner, T., and Mainini, G.

Proceedings of CHI 2020 (ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems), Honolulu, HI, Apr 25-30, 2020, pp. 1-13.

CHI 2020

I/O Braid: Scalable Touch-Sensitive Lighted Cords Using Spiraling, Repeating Sensing Textiles and Fiber Optics
Olwal, A., Moeller, J., Priest-Dorman, G., Starner, T., and Carroll, B.

Proceedings of UIST 2018 - Best Demo Award (ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology), Berlin, Germany, Oct 14-17, 2018, pp. 485-497.

UIST 2018 - Best Demo Award

SensorSnaps: Integrating Wireless Sensor Nodes into Fabric Snap Fasteners for Textile Interfaces
Dementyev, A., Galvez, T., and Olwal, A.

Proceedings of UIST 2019 (ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology), New Orleans, LA, Oct 20-23, 2019, pp. 17-28.

UIST 2019

Ubiquitous Sensing in Everyday Objects and Devices

Haptics with Input introduces passive and active sensing for the Linear Resonant Actuator (LRA), which is widely used in wearable and mobile devices. We demonstrate new touch and pressure sensing, and how mobile devices can sense which surfaces they are placed on.

Google AI Blog: Haptics with Input ->

Haptics with Input: Back-EMF in Linear Resonant Actuators to Enable Touch, Pressure and Environmental Awareness
Dementyev, A., Olwal, A., and Lyon, R.F.

Proceedings of UIST 2020 (ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology), Virtual Event, Oct 20-23, 2020, pp. 420-429.

UIST 2020

Zensei: Embedded, Multi-electrode Bioimpedance Sensing for Implicit, Ubiquitous User Recognition
Sato, M., Puri, R., Olwal, A., Ushigome, Y., Franciszkiewicz, L., Chandra, D., Poupyrev, I., and Raskar, R.

Proceedings of CHI 2017 (SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems), Denver, CO, May 6-11, 2017, pp. 3972-3985.

CHI 2017

SpecTrans: Versatile Material Classification for Interaction with Textureless, Specular and Transparent Surfaces
Sato, M., Yoshida, S., Olwal, A., Shi, B., Hiyama, A., Tanikawa, T., Hirose, M., Raskar, R.

Proceedings of CHI 2015 (SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems), Seoul, South Korea, Apr 18-23, 2015, pp. 2191-2200.

CHI 2015

SpeckleSense: Fast, Precise, Low-cost and Compact Motion Sensing using Laser Speckle
Zizka, J., Olwal, A., and Raskar, R.

Proceedings of UIST 2011 (ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology), Santa Barbara, CA, Oct 16-19, 2011, pp. 489-498.

UIST 2011

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%)