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In a world racing towards making AI more intelligent, I seek to make it more aligned with our attention and intent.

lastname(at)cs.uni-saarland.de

Hi ! I'm Ashwin Ram

I'm a postdoctoral researcher in the HCI Lab at Saarland University working with Prof. Jürgen Steimle.

My research interests span Human-AI interaction and wearable computing, and explores intelligent interfaces that align AI support with users' attention and intent. Beyond improving model capability, I see this alignment as a foundation for the next generation of proactive AI systems that support people during everyday activities without overwhelming or disrupting them. I publish my work in top-tier venues, including CHI, UIST, IMWUT, and NeurIPS, with two Honourable Mention awards.

Previously, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Computing in National University of Singapore (NUS), working with Prof. Shengdong Zhao, who was also my PhD advisor. I also worked at the Augmented Human Lab in NUS with Prof. Suranga Nanayakkara. Before specializing in HCI, I studied Electronics & Communication engineering in NIT-Trichy in Tamil Nadu, India.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

The most up-to-date list of publications is available in Google Scholar

UIST 2025

GestureCoach: Rehearsing for Engaging Talks with LLM-Driven Gesture Recommendations

Ashwin Ram, Varsha Suresh, Artin Saberpour Abadian, Vera Demberg, Jürgen Steimle.

PDF | Demo

IMWUT 2021

LSVP: Towards Effective On-the-Go Video Learning Using Optical Head-Mounted Displays.

Ashwin Ram, and Shengdong Zhao.

PDF | Demo | Presentation

CHI 2024 🏅 Best Paper Honorable Mention (top 5%)

Navigating Real-World Challenges: A Quadruped Robot Guiding System for Visually Impaired People in Diverse Environments.

Shaojun Cai, Ashwin Ram, Zhengtai Gou, Mohd Alqama Wasim Shaikh, Yu- An Chen, Yingjia Wan, Kotaro Hara, Shengdong Zhao, and David Hsu.

PDF | Demo

NeurIPS 2026

Semantic Motion: Semantic Motion Anchors: Bridging Motion and Meaning in Co-Speech Gestures.

Varsha Suresh, Mohammad Mahdi Abootorabi, Mohamed Salman, M. Hamza Mughal, Christian Theobalt, Ashwin Ram, Jürgen Steimle, Vera Demberg.

PDF

DIS 2023 🏅 Best Paper Honorable Mention (top 5%)

Mindful Moments: Exploring On-the-go Mindfulness Practice On Smart-glasses.

Felicia Tan, Ashwin Ram, Chloe Haigh, and Shengdong Zhao.

PDF | Demo | Presentation

Some cool projects I worked on in the past...

Semantic visual localization and robot navigation using floor plans

(as an doctoral candiate at the NUS Robotics Lab with Prof. David Hsu)

Efficient modelling of rumor propagation in Twitter

(as an undergad intern at IIT-Hyderbad with Prof. Srijith PK)

Sound source localization using neural networks

(as an undergad intern at IISc with Prof. Thippur Sreenivas)

Other things about me....

Apart from research, I'm into learning new languages. I'm proficient in Malayalam, Tamil, and English, and have elementary capabilities in Hindi, German, and French. I'm also passionate about music. I've learnt Carnatic singing in my childhood and I play the guitar, and compose music in my free time.

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