Samitha Elvitigala

Research Fellow

Samitha Elvitigala completed his PhD from Augmented Human Lab in Auckland Bioengineering Institute of the University of Auckland. During his PhD, he investigated novel wearable interfaces that can implicitly understand the physical and mental behaviors of humans. His research interests include Human-Computer Interaction, Ubiquitous Computing, and Assistive Augmentation.

Apart from his research Samitha likes traveling, Hiking and Cycling.

Publications

Montoya, M.F., Qiao, H., Sasikumar, P., Elvitigala, D.S., Pell, S.J., Nanayakkara, S.C, Mueller, F. ‘Floyd’, 2024. Exploring an Extended Reality Floatation Tank Experience to Reduce the Fear of Being in Water. In Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’24), May 11–16, 2024, Honolulu, HI, USA.

Dissanayake V., Tang V., Elvitigala D.S., Wen E., Wu M., Nanayakkara S.C. 2022. Troi: Towards Understanding Users Perspectives to Mobile Automatic Emotion Recognition System in Their Natural Setting. In Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Mobile Human-Computer Interaction.

Elvitigala D.S., Boldu R., Nanayakkara S.C., and Matthies D.J.C. 2022. TickleFoot: Design, Development and Evaluation of a Novel Foot-Tickling Mechanism That Can Evoke Laughter. ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact. 29, 3, Article 20 (June 2022), 23 pages.

Elvitigala, D.S., Scholl, P.M., Suriyaarachchi, H., Dissanayake, V. and Nanayakkara, S.C., 2021. StressShoe: A DIY Toolkit for just-in-time Personalised Stress Interventions for Office Workers Performing Sedentary Tasks. In MobileHCI ’21: The ACM International Conference on Mobile Human-Computer Interaction, September 27–30, 2021, Touluse, France. Honorable Mention Award!

Matthies, D.J.C., Elvitigala, D.S., Fu, A., Yin, D. and Nanayakkara, S.C., 2021. mobiLLD: Exploring the Detection of Leg Length Discrepancy and Altering Gait with Mobile Smart Insoles. In The 14th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference (PETRA 2021), June 29-July 2, 2021, Corfu, Greece.

Muthukumarana S., Elvitigala D.S., Wu Q., Pai Y.S., Nanayakkara S.C. 2021. Jammify: Interactive Multi-sensory System for Digital Art Jamming. In Human-Computer-Interaction – INTERACT 2021, Springer International Publishing, Cham, 23–41

Elvitigala, D.S., Matthies, D.J.C, Weerasinghe, C. and Nanayakkara, S.C., 2021. GymSoles++: Combining Google Glass with Smart Insoles to Improve Body Posture when Performing Squats. In The 14th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference (PETRA 2021), June 29-July 2, 2021, Corfu, Greece. Best Student Paper Award!

Elvitigala, D.S., Nanayakkara, S.C., and Huber, J., 2021. Augmented Foot: A Comprehensive Survey of Augmented Foot Interfaces. In Augmented Humans International Conference 2021 (AHs ’21), February 22–24, 2021, Rovaniemi, Finland.

Muthukumarana, S., Elvitigala, D.S., Cortes, J.P.F., Matthies, D.J. and Nanayakkara, S.C., 2020, April. Touch me gently: recreating the perception of touch using a shape-memory alloy matrix. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '20), April 25–30, 2020, Honolulu, Hawai'i, USA. ACM.

Elvitigala, D.S., Matthies, D.J.C., and Nanayakkara, S.C., 2020. StressFoot: Uncovering the Potential of the Foot for Acute Stress Sensing in Sitting Posture. Sensors, 20(10), p.2882.

Elvitigala D. S., Matthies D. J. C., Weerasinghe C., Shi Y., and Nanayakkara S.C., 2020. GymSoles++: Using Smart Wearables to Improve Body Posture when Performing Squats and Dead-Lifts. In AHs ’20: Augmented Humans International Conference (AHs ’20), March 16–17, 2020, Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Muthukumarana, S., Elvitigala, D.S., Cortes, J.P.F., Matthies, D.J. and Nanayakkara, S.C., 2019, November. PhantomTouch: Creating an Extended Reality by the Illusion of Touch using a Shape-Memory Alloy Matrix. In SIGGRAPH Asia 2019 XR (pp. 29-30). ACM.

Elvitigala, D.S., Matthies, D.J., David, L., Weerasinghe, C. and Nanayakkara, S.C., 2019, May. GymSoles: Improving Squats and Dead-Lifts by Visualizing the User's Center of Pressure. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-12).

Muthukumarana, S., Matthies, D.J., Weerasinghe, C., Elvitigala, D.S. and Nanayakkara, S.C., 2019, March. CricketCoach: Towards Creating a Better Awareness of Gripping Forces for Cricketers. In Proceedings of the 10th Augmented Human International Conference 2019 (pp. 1-2).

Dissanayake, V., Elvitigala, D.S., Zhang, H., Weerasinghe, C. and Nanayakkara, S.C., 2019, November. CompRate: Power Efficient Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability Monitoring on Smart Wearables. In 25th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (pp. 1-8).

Matthies, D.J., Elvitigala, D.S., Muthukumarana, S., Huber, J. and Nanayakkara, S.C., 2019, March. CapMat: a smart foot mat for user authentication. In Proceedings of the 10th Augmented Human International Conference 2019 (pp. 1-2).

Elvitigala, D.S., Matthies, D.J., Dissanayaka, V., Weerasinghe, C. and Nanayakkara, S.C., 2019, March. 2bit-TactileHand: Evaluating Tactons for On-Body Vibrotactile Displays on the Hand and Wrist. In Proceedings of the 10th Augmented Human International Conference 2019 (pp. 1-8).

Elvitigala, D.S., 2018, October. Uncovering the Potential of the Foot as a Source of User Information. In Proceedings of the 2018 ACM International Joint Conference and 2018 International Symposium on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing and Wearable Computers (pp. 541-546). Doctoral Colloquium Best Presentation Runners Up Award!

Petry, B., Illandara, T., Elvitigala, D.S. and Nanayakkara, S.C., 2018, April. Supporting rhythm activities of deaf children using music-sensory-substitution systems. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-10).

Elvitigala, D.S., 2018, October. Exploring the Potential of the Foot to Infer on User Information. In Proceedings of the 2018 ACM International Joint Conference and 2018 International Symposium on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing and Wearable Computers (pp. 1805-1808). Best Presentation Runners-Up!

Elvitigala, S., Chan, S. W. T., Howell, N., Matthies, D. J. and Nanayakkara, S. C., 2018, October. Doodle Daydream: An Interactive Display to Support Playful and Creative Interactions Between Co-workers. In Proceedings of the Symposium on Spatial User Interaction (pp. 186-186).

Elvitigala, D.S., Peiris, R., Wilhelm, E., Foong, S. and Nanayakkara, S.C., 2017, March. GrabAmps: grab a wire to sense the current flow. In Proceedings of the 8th Augmented Human International Conference (pp. 1-4).

Withana, A., Ransiri, S., Kaluarachchi, T., Singhabahu, C., Shi, Y., Elvitigala, S., Nanayakkara, S.C., 2016. waveSense: Ultra Low Power Gesture Sensing Based on Selective Volumetric Illumination, In proceedings of the 29th Annual Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST '16)

Elvitigala, D.S., Wessolek, D., Achenbach, A.V., Singhabahu, C. and Nanayakkara, S.C., 2016, November. SwimSight: Supporting deaf users to participate in swimming games. In Proceedings of the 28th Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction (pp. 567-570).

Schroepfer, T., Nanayakkara, S. C., A., Wortmann, T., Cornelius, A., Khew, Y.N. and Lian, A., Yeo K.P., Peiris, R.L., Withana, A., Werry. I., Petry, B., Otega, S., Janaka, N., Elvitigala, S., Fernando, P., Samarasekara, N., 2014. iSwarm: a swarm of luminous sea creatures that interact with passers-by. In Singapore iLight 2014 (Marina Bay, Singapore, 7- 30 March, 2014). ​