Lei Gao

Lei Gao Portrait

Lei Gao

Lecturer (Assistant Professor)

Department of Computer Science, University College London

I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Computer Science at University College London (UCL). I am also a member of the Multi-Sensory Devices (MSD) Group and the UCL Interaction Centre (UCLIC).

Prior to my current appointment, I was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UCL, where I also obtained my PhD in Computer Science in 2024, supervised by Prof. Sriram Subramanian and Prof. Diego Martinez Plasencia. I received my Master's degree in Engineering from Xidian University and my Bachelor's degree in Engineering from Shandong University.

My research focuses on the computational design of physical interactive systems, integrating algorithmic methods, physical actuation mechanisms, and multisensory interaction. I am particularly interested in developing programmable physical interfaces that enable new forms of tangible, embodied, and intelligent interaction. My work on acoustic levitation exemplifies this vision, using computational methods and ultrasonic fields to enable contactless object manipulation, fabrication, and multisensory and haptic interaction.

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Email: lei.g@ucl.ac.uk

Curriculum Vitae

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Latest News

Publications

Overview of AAC: An Acoustic Actor-Critic Trajectory Planning and Correction System for Stable Multi-Particle Levitation Displays

AAC: An Acoustic Actor-Critic Trajectory Planning and Correction System for Stable Multi-Particle Levitation Displays

Jincheng Wang, Lei Gao, Zhouyang Shen, Pengyuan Wei, Diego Martinez Plasencia.

ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026)

Paper

Overview of SONARIOS: A Design Futuring-Driven Exploration of Acoustophoresis

SONARIOS: A Design Futuring-Driven Exploration of Acoustophoresis

Ceylan Besevli, Lei Gao, Narsimlu Kemsaram, Giada Brianza, Orestis Georgiou, Sriram Subramanian, Marianna Obrist.

ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS 2025) Best Paper Award

Paper

Overview of AcoustoBots: A swarm of robots for acoustophoretic multimodal interactions

AcoustoBots: A swarm of robots for acoustophoretic multimodal interactions

Narsimlu Kemsaram, James Hardwick, Jincheng Wang, Bonot Gautam, Ceylan Besevli, Giorgos Christopoulos, Sourabh Dogra, Lei Gao, Akin Delibasi, Diego Martinez Plasencia, Orestis Georgiou, Marianna Obrist, Ryuji Hirayama, Sriram Subramanian.

Frontiers in Robotics and AI , 12, 1537101

Paper

Overview of Slip-Grip: An Electrotactile Method to Simulate Weight

Slip-Grip: An Electrotactile Method to Simulate Weight

Hongnan Lin, Lei Gao, Shengsheng Jiang, Hongyu Yue, Ziyi Fu, Jinyi Luo, Chengxiao Wu, Teng Han, Feng Tian, Sriram Subramanian.

ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2025)

Paper

Overview of Ultrasound can deliver chemical stimulants to the skin and modulate their perception

Ultrasound can deliver chemical stimulants to the skin and modulate their perception

Tor-Salve Dalsgaard, Arpit Bhatia, Lei Gao, Ryuji Hirayama, Sriram Subramanian, Joanna Bergström, Kasper Hornbæk.

Nature Scientific Reports , 15, no. 1(2025): 10297.

Paper

Overview of Computational Gastronomy and Eating with Acoustophoresis

Computational Gastronomy and Eating with Acoustophoresis

Lei Gao, Yutaka Tokuda, Shubhi Bansal, Sriram Subramanian.

Companion Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Multimodal Interaction (ICMI Companion 2024)

Paper

Overview of StableLev: Data-Driven Stability Enhancement for Multi-Particle Acoustic Levitation

StableLev: Data-Driven Stability Enhancement for Multi-Particle Acoustic Levitation

Lei Gao, Giorgos Christopoulos, Prateek Mittal, Ryuji Hirayama, Sriram Subramanian.

ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2024)

Paper | Video | Video preview

Overview of Temporal Acoustic Point Holography

Temporal Acoustic Point Holography

Giorgos Christopoulos, Lei Gao, Diego Martinez Plasencia, Marta Betcke, Ryuji Hirayama, Sriram Subramanian.

ACM SIGGRAPH 2024 Conference Papers (SIGGRAPH 2024)

Paper | Video

Overview of Designing and Prototyping Applications Using Acoustophoretic Interfaces

Designing and Prototyping Applications Using Acoustophoretic Interfaces

Lei Gao.

ACM Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA 2024)

Paper

Overview of DataLev: Mid-air Data Physicalisation Using Acoustic Levitation

DataLev: Mid-air Data Physicalisation Using Acoustic Levitation

Lei Gao, Pourang Irani, Sriram Subramanian, Gowdham Prabhakar, Diego Martinez Plasencia, Ryuji Hirayama.

ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2023)

Paper | Video | Video preview

Overview of DATALEV: Acoustophoretic Data Physicalisation

DATALEV: Acoustophoretic Data Physicalisation

Lei Gao, James Hardwick, Diego Martinez Plasencia, Sriram Subramanian, Ryuji Hirayama

ACM UIST Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST Demo 2022)

Paper

Overview of MAG+: AN EXTENDED MULTIMODAL ADAPTATION GATE FOR MULTIMODA SENTIMENT ANALYSIS

MAG+: AN EXTENDED MULTIMODAL ADAPTATION GATE FOR MULTIMODA SENTIMENT ANALYSIS

Xianbing Zhao, Yixin Chen, Wanting Li, Lei Gao, Buzhou Tang

IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP 2022)

Paper

Overview of Investigating the Effectiveness of Virtual Reality for Culture Learning

Investigating the Effectiveness of Virtual Reality for Culture Learning

Lei Gao, Bo Wan, Gang Liu, Guojun Xie, Jiayang Huang, Guanglan Meng

International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 37:18, 1771-1781, 2021 (IJHCI 2021)

Paper

Overview of Automatic Clustering of Different Solutions to Programming Assignments in Computing Education

Automatic Clustering of Different Solutions to Programming Assignments in Computing Education

Lei Gao, Bo Wan, Cheng Fang, Yangyang Li, Chen Chen

ACM Global Computing Education Conference 2019 (CompEd 2019)

Paper