Hi, I’m Mehrad.
I’m a mixed reality researcher and engineer based in Calgary. I’m finishing my BSc in Computer Science at the University of Calgary, where I started doing research with Prof. Ryo Suzuki in his Programmable Reality Lab, part of the Interactions Lab. Since then I’ve spent four years as a mixed reality developer and researcher at MaKami College, and a year as a visiting researcher with Prof. Hideaki Kuzuoka in the Cyber Interface Lab at the University of Tokyo.
I build mixed reality systems that help people teach and learn physical, hands-on skills, especially at a distance. My work combines interaction techniques with live 3D capture, robots and haptics, and I test these systems with real instructors and learners.
I’m open to MSc programs for Fall 2027, and to XR and engineering roles, including internships for Summer 2027.
Selected work
Mixed reality that helps people hands-on work.
Teaching hands-on skills remotely
Massage, physiotherapy and other hands-on trades are taught in person. These systems let an instructor see, guide and reach students who aren’t in the room.
ChameleonControlteach
A remote instructor guides a real person in the classroom through mixed reality gestures, so that person’s hands carry out the instructor’s demonstration. Deployed in physiotherapy and massage therapy classes and evaluated with 53 participants across three studies.
UCalgary
Scalable Academysupervise
A VR view that shows 3D pointclouds of up to six students at once. In a study with eight massage therapy experts, the bottleneck shifted from walking the classroom to managing attention, and a model of the results predicts one instructor could monitor up to 15 students.
University of Tokyo
CU Boulder
HoloBotsshare
Mobile robots give a remote person’s hologram a physical presence, so collaborators in different places can touch and move the same real objects.
University of TsukubaUCalgaryTurning instructions into guidance
Most how-to knowledge lives in flat videos and conversation. These projects bring it into the space where the work happens.
Video2MRlearn
Extracts motion from ordinary 2D tutorial videos and turns it into 3D mixed reality instructions you can follow in your own space.
Adobe Research
Carnegie MellonUniversity of TsukubaUCalgary
Sketched Realityprototype
Sketch in AR to define how virtual objects and small tabletop robots affect each other, in both directions.
UChicagoUniversity of Tokyo
IIIT DelhiUCalgary
Augmented Conversationdiscuss
AR that listens to a conversation and places relevant keywords, maps, photos and facts around the person you’re talking to, so you don’t have to reach for your phone.
Snap ResearchUCalgaryTouch and haptics
Feeling an interface, not just seeing it.
Background
Publications
C = conference paper · W = workshop, poster or student competition · P = preprint · * = co-first authors