Pinyao Liu

profile

Position:

MSc Student

Contact:

pinyao_liu at sfu.ca

Affiliations:

Biography

Pinyao became a research intern at the iSpace lab in July 2019 and started his Masters in Fall 2020. He has a back­ground in Engineering and is always fas­ci­nated by the inter­sec­tion of design and emerg­ing tech­nol­ogy. His cur­rent research inter­ests involve inter­ac­tion design in XR and employ­ing tech­nol­ogy as a medium to create mean­ing­ful experiences.

Projects

InExChange

InExChange

InExChange: Fostering Genuine Social Connection through Embodied Breath Sharing in Mixed Reality InExChange is an interactive mixed reality experience centering around an inflatable vest which conveys a physical sense of shared breathing on the diaphragm between two or more participants. The experience is composed of three acts in which the participants' breaths are transformed into metapho...

By caitlin morris, pinyao liu, bernhard riecke & pattie maes Read more
Virtual Earthgazing

Virtual Earthgazing

During months-long missions, Astronauts experience various aspects of social isolation and confinement. Our main aim is to study the feasibility of a virtual reality sensory stimulation augmentation called Virtual Earthgazing (VE). The VE experience is designed to elicit an “overview effect” of the Earth and induce the feeling of awe, which has been shown to expand time perception, increase e...

By pinyao liu & bernhard riecke Read more
Flow

Flow

Flow is a prototype of a real-time interactive installation with Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technology, aimed at evoking social connection through bio-signal sharing. The Muse™ headband would stream user’s EEG (brain wave) data and PPG (breathing) data into Unity 3D engine using LSL (Lab Streaming Layer). The generated visualization interact subtly with the participant's breathing pattern...

By pinyao liu & bernhard riecke Read more
Virtual Transcendent Dream

Virtual Transcendent Dream

Flying dreams have the potential to evoke a feeling of empowerment (or self-efficacy, confidence in our ability to succeed) and self-transcendent experience (STE), which have been shown to contribute to an individual’s overall well-being. However, these exceptional dreaming experiences remain difficult to induce at will. Inspired by the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) to support profound emoti...

By pinyao liu, bernhard riecke, katerina stepanova & alex kitson Read more
Breath of Light

Breath of Light

One must first come to know, through observing oneself — just what one does with breathing. - Elsa Gindler Breath of light is a generative interactive installation, exhibited at the 13th Shanghai Biennale. The installation aims to foster a feeling of connection and awareness through the process of breathing synchronization. Each of the two participants generates their own light with their breat...

By pinyao liu, bernhard riecke, katerina stepanova & john desnoyers stewart Read more
Connected through "AWE": creating immersive experiences for social connection

Connected through "AWE": creating immersive experiences for social connection

Do you get enough “awe” in your life? In our busy day-to-day lives, we often take our experiences for granted. While we have the technology to connect with one another, like smart phones, we don’t necessarily get outside with nature, or stargaze. Such activities may consist of common awe-inspiring moments, and we now understand that feeling awe is associated with all sorts of social and well...

By bernhard riecke, denise quesnel, katerina stepanova, alex kitson, ivan aguilar, john desnoyers stewart, noah miller, pinyao liu & patrick pennefather Read more

Publications

Liu, P., Stepanova, E. R., Kitson, A. J., Schiphorst, T., & Riecke, B. E. (2022). Virtual Transcendent Dream: Empowering People through Embodied Flying in Virtual Reality. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3517677
Desnoyers-Stewart, J., Stepanova, E. R., Liu, P., Kitson, A., Pennefather, P. P., Rhyzhov, V., & Riecke, B. E. (2023). Embodied Telepresent Connection (ETC): Exploring Virtual Social Touch Through Pseudohaptics. Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1145/3544549.3585843
Morris, C., Liu, P., Riecke, B. E., & Maes, P. (2023). InExChange: Fostering Genuine Social Connection through Embodied Breath Sharing in Mixed Reality. Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1145/3544549.3583917
Liu, Pinyao. 2022. “Exploring the Transformative Potential of Immersive Technology through Embodied Interaction.” MSc Thesis, Vancouver, BC, Canada: Simon Fraser University. https://summit.sfu.ca/item/35314.
Liu, Pinyao. 2021. “Breath of Light.” Curated Interactive Art Exhibition presented at the 13th Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai, China, March. https://www.biennialfoundation.org/biennials/shanghai-biennale/.
Liu, P., Desnoyers-Stewart, J., Stepanova, E. R., & Riecke, B. E. (2023). Breath of Light: Towards Reclaiming Shared Breathing through a Meditative Installation. Leonardo, 56(5), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1162/leon_a_02401
Desnoyers-Stewart, John, Ekaterina R Stepanova, Pinyao Liu, Alexandra Kitson, Patrick Parra Pennefather, Vladislav Rhyzhov, and Bernhard E Riecke. 2023. “Embodied Telepresent Connection (ETC): Exploring Virtual Social Touch Through Pseudohaptics.” Curated Virtual Reality Exhibition presented at the Intangible Realities Lab Virtual Reality Exhibit, Santiago de Compostella, Spain, April 20. www.intangiblerealitieslab.org.
Liu, Pinyao, Bernhard E. Riecke, Alexandra J. Kitson, and Katerina Stepanova. 2021. “In Air We Dream.” Curated Virtual Reality Exhibition presented at the Recto VRso Vancouver 2020, Vancouver, BC, Canada, October. https://www.alliancefrancaise.ca/v-unframed/.