Nandi Zhang

dblp:207/5997 · DBLP profile ↗
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6ranked-venue papers
3as first author
4since 2021 · last 2025
—ORCID · conflict

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Human-computer interaction and ubiquitous computing · 4 · 1 first-author · 4 since 2021
YearPublicationVenuePosition
2025 Signaling Human Intentions to Service Robots: Understanding the Use of Social Cues during In-Person Conversations
abstract
As social service robots become commonplace, it is essential for them to effectively interpret human signals, such as verbal, gesture, and eye gaze, when people need to focus on their primary tasks to minimize interruptions and distractions. Toward such a socially acceptable Human-Robot Interaction, we conducted a study ($N=24$) in an AR-simulated context of a coffee chat. Participants elicited social cues to signal intentions to an anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, grounded technical, or aerial technical robot waiter when they were speakers or listeners. Our findings reveal common patterns of social cues over intentions, the effects of robot morphology on social cue position and conversational role on social cue complexity, and users' rationale in choosing social cues. We offer insights into understanding social cues concerning perceptions of robots, cognitive load, and social context. Additionally, we discuss design considerations on approaching, social cue recognition, and response strategies for future service robots.
Hanfang Lyu, Nandi Zhang, Shuai Ma 0005, Qian Zhu 0010, Yuhan Luo 0002, Fugee Tsung, Xiaojuan Ma
CHI3
2025 From Following to Understanding: Investigating the Role of Reflective Prompts in AR-Guided Tasks to Promote User Understanding
abstract
Augmented Reality (AR) is a promising medium for guiding users through tasks, yet its impact on fostering deeper task understanding remains underexplored. This paper investigates the impact of reflective prompts -- strategic questions that encourage users to challenge assumptions, connect actions to outcomes, and consider hypothetical scenarios -- on task comprehension and performance. We conducted a two-phase study: a formative survey and co-design sessions (N=9) to develop reflective prompts, followed by a within-subject evaluation (N=16) comparing AR instructions with and without these prompts in coffee-making and circuit assembly tasks. Our results show that reflective prompts significantly improved objective task understanding and resulted in more proactive information acquisition behaviors during task completion. These findings highlight the potential of incorporating reflective elements into AR instructions to foster deeper engagement and learning. Based on data from both studies, we synthesized design guidelines for integrating reflective elements into AR systems to enhance user understanding without compromising task performance.
Nandi Zhang, Yukang Yan, Ryo Suzuki 0001
CHI1
2024 To Reach the Unreachable: Exploring the Potential of VR Hand Redirection for Upper Limb Rehabilitation
abstract
Rehabilitation therapies are widely employed to assist people with motor impairments in regaining control over their affected body parts. Nevertheless, factors such as fatigue and low self-efficacy can hinder patient compliance during extensive rehabilitation processes. Utilizing hand redirection in virtual reality (VR) enables patients to accomplish seemingly more challenging tasks, thereby bolstering their motivation and confidence. While previous research has investigated user experience and hand redirection among able-bodied people, its effects on motor-impaired people remain unexplored. In this paper, we present a VR rehabilitation application that harnesses hand redirection. Through a user study and semi-structured interviews, we examine the impact of hand redirection on the rehabilitation experiences of people with motor impairments and its potential to enhance their motivation for upper limb rehabilitation. Our findings suggest that patients are not sensitive to hand movement inconsistency, and the majority express interest in incorporating hand redirection into future long-term VR rehabilitation programs.
Peixuan Xiong, Yukai Zhang, Nandi Zhang, Shihan Fu, Xin Li 0215, Yadan Zheng, Jinni Zhou, Xiquan Hu, Mingming Fan 0001
CHI3
2024 Augmented Physics: Creating Interactive and Embedded Physics Simulations from Static Textbook Diagrams
abstract
We introduce Augmented Physics, a machine learning-integrated authoring tool designed for creating embedded interactive physics simulations from static textbook diagrams. Leveraging recent advancements in computer vision, such as Segment Anything and Multi-modal LLMs, our web-based system enables users to semi-automatically extract diagrams from physics textbooks and generate interactive simulations based on the extracted content. These interactive diagrams are seamlessly integrated into scanned textbook pages, facilitating interactive and personalized learning experiences across various physics concepts, such as optics, circuits, and kinematics. Drawing from an elicitation study with seven physics instructors, we explore four key augmentation strategies: 1) augmented experiments, 2) animated diagrams, 3) bi-directional binding, and 4) parameter visualization. We evaluate our system through technical evaluation, a usability study (N=12), and expert interviews (N=12). Study findings suggest that our system can facilitate more engaging and personalized learning experiences in physics education.
Aditya Gunturu, Nandi Zhang, Jarin Thundathil, Rubaiat Habib Kazi, Ryo Suzuki 0001
UIST3
2018 Expanding Cellular Network Capacity with Multi-Network Access
abstract
Traditionally, a cell phone remains on a single primary mobile network operator (MNO) as long as it is available, and uses another MNO only when the primary is unavailable and a roaming agreement exists. Multi-network access (MNA), where a cell phone can use any one of multiple MNOs at any point in space and time, can greatly increase cellular network capacity. This paper investigates how much MNA can improve cellular network capacity in the context of a multi-operator mobile virtual network operator (MO-MVNO), such as Google's Project Fi, and explores how the capacity gain varies with the MNOs' resource allocation scheme, and the MO-MVNO's market share and MNO selection algorithm. Simulations show that MNA can expand cellular network capacity by as much as 80% without additional spectrum or infrastructure. Resource allocation schemes affect both total capacity gain and how the gain is shared among operators. We also show that an MNO selection algorithm that is rational for an individual MO- MVNO subscriber can hurt the overall performance of both the MO-MVNO and MNOs.
Nandi Zhang, Jon M. Peha, Marvin A. Sirbu
VTC Fall1
2017 A comparison of migration and multihoming support in IPv6 and XIA
abstract
Mobility and multihoming have become the norm in Internet access, e.g. smartphones with Wi-Fi and LTE, and connected vehicles with LTE and DSRC links that change rapidly. Mobility creates challenges for active session continuity when provider-aggregatable locators are used, while multihoming brings opportunities for improving resiliency and allocative efficiency. This paper proposes a novel migration protocol, in the context of the eXpressive Internet Architecture (XIA), the XIA Migration Protocol. We compare it with Mobile IPv6, with respect to handoff latency and overhead, flow migration support, and defense against spoofing and replay of protocol messages. Handoff latencies of the XIA Migration Protocol and Mobile IPv6 Enhanced Route Optimization are comparable and neither protocol opens up avenues for spoofing or replay attacks. However, XIA requires no mobility anchor point to support client mobility while Mobile IPv6 always depends on a home agent. We show that XIA has significant advantage over IPv6 for multihomed hosts and networks in terms of resiliency, scalability, load balancing and allocative efficiency. IPv6 multihoming solutions either forgo scalability (BGP-based) or sacrifice resiliency (NAT-based), while XIA's fallback-based multihoming provides fault tolerance without a heavy-weight protocol. XIA also allows fine-grained incoming load-balancing and QoS-matching by supporting flow migration. Flow migration is not possible using Mobile IPv6 when a single IPv6 address is associated with multiple flows. From a protocol design and architectural perspective, the key enablers of these benefits are flow-level migration, XIA's DAG-based locators and self-certifying identifiers.
Nandi Zhang, Marvin A. Sirbu, Jon M. Peha
ISNCC1