WY.

HCI researcher · Interaction designer

Wang Ying

I build and evaluate sensor-based interactive systems that turn bodily and behavioural data into personalised, real-time feedback.

My work sits at the intersection of embodied interaction, sensing technologies, and human-centred AI. I co-design and study technology with parents, therapists, special-education teachers, and children in real-world settings—from autism treatment centres to rural classrooms.

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Portrait of Wang Ying
School of Software Technology
Zhejiang University
01

Embodied interaction

Designing interactive systems in which movement, sensation, and the body become central parts of the experience.

02

Sensing technologies

Translating physiological and behavioural signals into meaningful, responsive feedback.

03

Human-centred AI

Creating inclusive and adaptive systems around people’s diverse sensory, motor, and communicative needs.

News

Recent milestones

Selected publications, awards, and academic activities.

Outstanding Graduate, Zhejiang University.

HeartScape was accepted to IFIP-ICEC ’26.

Our study of multimodal AI chat interactions for DHH students was published at ACM ICMI ’25.

View paper ↗

Selected research

Systems designed for real lives

My projects combine working prototypes with mixed-methods evaluation in the contexts where technology will actually be used.

WeJoy Mat embodied parent-child play system
2026Embodied interaction · Autism

WeJoy Mat

An embodied multisensory exergame for parent–child play with autistic children

A 1.8 m × 1.2 m interactive mat with mirrored parent and child zones, visual, auditory, and vibrotactile feedback, plus parent-controlled sensory settings. A mixed-methods study with 11 parent–child dyads showed how the mat could act as a “third actor,” redistribute agency, sustain joint attention, and reduce parental scaffolding.

Embodied Interaction Designer & HCI Researcher · Co-first author

HeartScape visual mapping of wearable health data to a Dunhuang-style landscape
2026Data visualisation · Wearable health

HeartScape

Artistic visualisations for reflective self-tracking

Heart-rate, activity, and sleep data from a wearable become a Dunhuang-style landscape painting. In a within-subjects study with 24 participants, HeartScape increased hedonic quality without a reliable loss in pragmatic quality, positioning artistic visualisation as a reflective companion to precise health displays.

Data Visualization & HCI Researcher · Co-first author

LegMotion system with a Meta Quest headset and leg-mounted sensors
2025VR · Wearable sensing

LegMotion

Lower-limb interaction for enhanced embodiment in virtual reality

A Meta Quest 2 system using leg-mounted IMUs and surface EMG sensors to map acceleration, angular velocity, and muscle effort to virtual movement. A study across driving and block-building scenarios examined embodiment, presence, calibration, responsiveness, and cognitive load.

VR Interaction Researcher · First author

Study of multimodal AI chat interactions for DHH students
2025Accessibility · Human–AI interaction

AI Chat for DHH Students

Supporting multimodal interactions across sign language and written text

A survey of 87 DHH students and task-based study with 45 participants revealed cross-modal translation costs, mediation behaviours, and the need for flexible modality transitions and visually structured output.

Accessibility & Human–AI Interaction Researcher · Co-first author

Hidden Scars anti-bullying serious game
2024Serious games · Rural education

Hidden Scars

An anti-bullying serious game for rural Chinese children

A narrative adventure designed from teacher interviews and deployed in an 80-minute rural classroom session with 36 children. The study translated children’s and teachers’ feedback into revisions for content, pacing, difficulty, and the AI-assisted production process.

Serious Game Designer & HCI Researcher · First author

Publications

Selected writing

* Authors contributed equally

  1. 2026

    WeJoy Mat: An Embodied Interactive Mat System Mediating Parent-Child Play for Families with Autistic Children

    Wang Ying*, Yuqi Hu*, Jiayu Jiang, et al.

    Proceedings of the 25th Interaction Design and Children Conference (IDC ’26)

    DOI ↗
  2. 2026

    HeartScape: Translating Health Data into Artistic Visualizations for Reflective Self-Tracking

    Ruilin Wang*, Wang Ying*, Jinming Zhang, et al.

    IFIP International Conference on Entertainment Computing (IFIP-ICEC ’26) · Accepted, to appear

  3. 2025

    Exploring Lower-Limb Interaction for Enhanced Embodiment in Virtual Reality

    Wang Ying, Shaolong Chai, Qirui Xiong, et al.

    18th International Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Design (ISCID 2025)

    DOI ↗
  4. 2025

    Understanding and Supporting Multimodal AI Chat Interactions of DHH College Students: An Empirical Study

    Nan Zhuang*, Yanni Ma*, Xin Zhao*, Wang Ying*, Shaolong Chai*, et al.

    Proceedings of the 27th ACM International Conference on Multimodal Interaction (ICMI ’25)

    DOI ↗
  5. 2025

    Technology as the Third Actor: Beyond Tool Metaphor in Human-Technology Relations

    Wang Ying

    World Eco-Design Organization · ISBN 979-8-89696-023-2

  6. 2024

    Hidden Scars: Anti-bullying Serious Game Design for Rural Children

    Wang Ying, Shaolong Chai, Zhao Xin, et al.

    IFIP International Conference on Entertainment Computing (IFIP-ICEC ’24)

    DOI ↗

Background

Education & capabilities

Education

Sep 2023 — Jun 2026

Zhejiang University

M.Eng. in Industrial Design Engineering

Supervised by Prof. Fangtian Ying · Average 94.42/100 · Rank 3/41

Sep 2019 — Jun 2023

Xi’an University of Posts and Telecommunications

B.Eng. in Communication Engineering (Experimental Program)

Average 88.51/100 · Rank 5/35

Academic service

Reviewer

ACM CHI ’26 · ACM IDC ’26

Skills

Programming
Python, C/C++ (Arduino, ESP32), C# (Unity), MATLAB, JavaScript
Prototyping
Arduino, ESP32, Raspberry Pi, IMU, surface EMG, pressure sensors, PPG wearables, vibrotactile actuators, LED matrices, 3D-printed enclosures
Sensor data
Butterworth filtering, envelope and feature extraction, WebSocket streaming, reaction-time modelling, mixed-effects models, ICC, SPSS
Research
Co-design, controlled and in-the-wild studies, surveys, interviews, video coding, reflexive thematic analysis
Tools
Unity 3D, Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, LaTeX
Languages
Mandarin Chinese (native), English (IELTS Academic 7.0)

Awards & honours

Jun 2026Outstanding Graduate

Zhejiang University

Dec 2024Outstanding Academic Scholarship

Zhejiang University Ningbo · Top 5%

Dec 2024Outstanding Graduate Student Leader

Zhejiang University

Jun 2024Outstanding Volunteer

17th China Electronics & Information Conference

Contact

Let’s work on technology that meets people where they are.

I am open to research opportunities and collaborations in HCI, embodied interaction, accessible technology, and human-centred AI.

ingw3216@zju.edu.cn ↗

Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China