Bio

I am a senior researcher working at Microsoft Cognition. I focus on developing Augmented Reality and Computer Vision technologies. 

I finished my PhD in Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington advised by Dr. Shwetak Patel and Dr. Alanson Sample. My research focuses on (1) enabling sensing of user interaction with everyday objects, (2) leveraging sensor fusion to achieve precise user/object identification, and (3) leveraging physical phenomena to enable new sensing modalities with mobile devices. To tackle this broad problem space, I re-purpose off-the-shelf devices or build specialized hardware using my diverse skills in human-computer interaction, signal processing, machine learning, and RF engineering. I also design and conduct evaluation studies to quantify system performance in real-world scenarios. My research is application-driven and contributes towards domains including Internet of Things, AR/VR, and mobile sensing/interactions. I  collaborate with experts across computer science, electrical/mechanical engineering and design, which help me to identify great research opportunities and deliver broader impacts to the HCI community.

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Download my CV here

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Past Projects

Sensing and understanding user interactions with everyday objects can enable immersive Internet of Things (IoT) applications. In the following projects I explore various application spaces such as understanding daily activities, creating tangible user input interfaces and human/object recognition for AR/VR.

PaperID: A Technique for Drawing Functional Battery-Free Wireless Inter- faces on Paper.

IDSense: A Human-Object Interaction Detection System Based on Passive UHF RFID.

IDCam: Precise Item Identification for AR Enhanced Object Interactions

ID-Match: A hybrid computer vision and RFID system for recognizing individuals in groups.

FlexTouch: Enabling Large-Scale Interaction Sensing Beyond Touchscreens Using Flexible and Conductive Materials

ShopSight: A Retail Analytics Platform Tracking Consumer Behaviors in Physical Stores.

Professional Experience

JULY 2018 - PRESENT

Senior Researcher, Microsoft, Redmond, USA

I am a researcher in Microsoft Cognition Environmental Understanding Team

SEPT 2013 - JUNE 2018

Research Assistant, The Ubicomp Lab, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

Advisors: Dr. Shwetak Patel & Dr. Alanson Sample.

JULY - OCTOBER, 2016

Research intern, Microsoft Research, Sensors and Devices Group, Cambridge, UK

• Mentors: Dr. Tobias Grosse-Puppendahl, Dr. James Scott

• Developed novel IR based solutions for user presence sensing and localization

JUNE - SEPTEMBER 2014-2015

Research Intern, Wireless Systems Group, Disney Research, Pittsburgh, USA

• Mentor: Dr. Alanson Sample

• Designed and implemented IDSense, a novel human-object interaction detection system based on passive RFID.

• Designed and Implemented PaperID, a wireless paper-based passive sensing interfaces.

OCTOBER 2012 - MARCH 2013

Research Intern, HCI Group, Microsoft Research, Beijing, China

• Mentor: Dr. Koji Yatani

• Designed and implemented a novel insole sensing system recognizing body posture based on foot pressure distribution

Key Publications

IDCam: Precise Item Identification for AR Enhanced Object Interactions

Hanchuan Li, Eric Whitmire, Alex Mariakakis, Victor Chan, Alanson Sample, Shwetak Patel.

In the Proceedings of the 2019 IEEE International Conference on RFID (IEEE RFID 2019) 

IDAct: Towards Unobtrusive Recognition of User Presence and Daily Activities.

Hanchuan Li, Chieh-yih Wan, Rahul C. Shah, Alanson P. Sample, Shwetak Patel 2019. In the Proceedings
of the 2019 IEEE International Conference on RFID (IEEE RFID 2019)

PaperID: A Technique for Drawing Functional Battery-Free Wireless Inter- faces on Paper.

Hanchuan Li, Eric Brockmeyer, Elizabeth Carter, Josh Fromm, Scott Hudson, Shwetak Patel, Alanson Sample.

In The Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI16)

ID-Match: A hybrid computer vision and RFID system for recognizing individuals in groups.

Hanchuan Li, Peijin Zhang, Samer Al Moubayed, Alanson Sample, Shwetak Patel. 2016.

In the Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI16)

IDSense: A Human Object Interaction Detection System Based on Passive UHF RFID

Hanchuan Li, Can Ye, and Alanson Sample. 2015.

In the Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI15)

Enabling Sensing and Interaction with Everyday Objects

Hanchuan Li

In the Proceedings of the 30th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST17 DS)

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FlexTouch: Enabling Large-Scale Interaction Sensing beyond Touchscreens using Flexible and Conductive Materials

Yuntao Wang, Jianyu Zhou, Hanchuan Li, Tengxiang Zhang, Minxuan Gao, Zhuolin Cheng, Chun Yu, Shwetak Patel

Contact Me

Seattle, WA, USA