Hydroptical | UIST' 24
Visuo-Thermal | SIGGRAPH '22
Redirection thru Heat
Swarm Body | CHI '24
RattlEye | SIGGRAPH '22
ThermoBlinds | UbiComp '22
Thermal Painting | TEI '26 WiP
Swell by Light | TEI '25
Everyday Thermal | TEI '25
|
My Value
From Visual to Multimodal. From Information to Energy.
Read the full version here.
Sosuke, a PhD student at Georgia Tech, creates new ways for humans to interact with the world by repurposing visual media into multimodal experiences. For instance, Hydroptical Thermal Feedback creates the illusion of instant water temperature changes using LED-based skin heating, without altering the water's actual temperature. ThermoBlinds draws inspiration from liquid crystal displays (LCDs) to deliver fast-switching thermal sensations, while Swell by Light leverages a standard office printer to generate 2.5D tactile textures. These projects demonstrate how visual media technologies can transcend simple information display, reshaping the physical world and our perception of it by directly mediating energy.
This approach seeks to return us to more organic, synesthetic, and multimodal way of interacting with our environment and each other, enhanced by the magic of computing.
Hydroptical Bath, for example, offers a meditative, relaxing experience with physiological benefits. Similarly, Thermal Painting augments an artist's creativity with multimodal paints that evoke both thermal and color sensations.
Ultimately, Sosuke's research pulls magical experiences out from behind the sceen, integrating physiological, emotional, and behavioral changes into our media experiences.
In the age of electricity, optical patterns were of such low energy that they could only conveyed information, functioning merely as visual media.
However, as we learn to control higher-energy patterns, we are giving rise to what Sosuke calls "energy media."
What were once mere visual representations will come to give thermal, tactile, kinetic, olfactory, and gustatory sensations.
What was once mere information will come to exert physiological, emotional, and motivational impacts on us humans.
These high-energy patterns will morph, heat, power, and control physical matter and computing systems.
Publications
-
Thermal and Tactile Integration in Human Liquid Perception Using Viscous Solutions and Visible Light
Junjie Hua, Sosuke Ichihashi, Hsin-Ni Ho
IEEE Haptics '26 Paper (to appear) -
Designing for Defamiliarization with Thermal Painting: Exploring Experiences of Dynamic Warmth in Painters' Creative Processes
Supratim Pait, Sosuke Ichihashi, Xingyu Li, Haiqing Xu, Noura Howell
TEI '26 WiP, Demo video -
Swell by Light: An Approachable Technique for Freeform Raised Textures
Sosuke Ichihashi, Noura Howell, HyunJoo Oh
TEI '25 Paper Project Page -
Towards Designing for Everyday Thermal Experiences
Sosuke Ichihashi, Kosha Bedha, Noura Howell
TEI '25 Paper -
Hydroptical Thermal Feedback: Spatial Thermal Feedback Using Visible Lights and Water
Sosuke Ichihashi, Masahiko Inami, Hsin-Ni Ho, Noura Howell
UIST '24 Paper video -
Swarm Body: Embodied Swarm Robots
Sosuke Ichihashi, So Kuroki, Mai Nishimura, Kazumi Kasaura, Takefumi Hiraki, Kazutoshi Tanaka, Shigeo Yoshida
CHI '24 paper video
Popular Choice Honorable Mention Award -
ThermoBlinds: Non-Contact, Highly Responsive Thermal Feedback for Thermal Interaction
Sosuke Ichihashi, Arata Horie, Masaharu Hirose, Zendai Kashino, Shigeo Yoshida, Sohei Wakisaka, Masahiko Inami
SIGGRAPH ’22 E-Tech paper video -
The Effect of Temperature Presentation According to The Gaze of Others on Remote Communications
Sosuke Ichihashi, Arata Horie, Zendai Kashino, Shigeo Yoshida, Masahiko Inami
ISMCR '21 Program -
High-Speed Non-Contact Thermal Display Using Infrared Rays and Shutter Mechanism
Sosuke Ichihashi, Arata Horie, Masaharu Hirose, Zendai Kashino, Shigeo Yoshida, Masahiko Inami
UbiComp-ISWC ’21 workshop MIMSVAI paper
Best Paper Award
Experiences
Education
-
2022-2027
PhD in Digital Media @ Georgia Tech
Co-Advised by Prof. Brian Magerko & Prof. Noura Howell
Topic: Optical Energy Display for Multimodal Sensory Feedback, Fabrication, and Power Delivery -
2022
MAS in Interdisciplinary Information Studies @ University of Tokyo
Advised by Prof. Masahiko Inami
Thesis: Gaze Interaction Using Non-Contact Thermal Feedback -
2020
BE in Global Engineering @ Kyoto University
Advised by Prof. Takahiro Sayama
Thesis: Combinatorial Optimization for Parameter Identification of a
Rainfall-Runoff Model Applied to 120 Dam River Basins in Japan -
2018
Exchange in ECE @ University of Texas at Austin
University Honor (Fall 2018)
Research Collaborations
-
2025.08-Present
Flavin Neuromachines Lab @ Georgia Tech, USA
Advised by Prof. Matthew T. Flavin
Topic: Thermoregulating Wearable Fludic Device -
2024.07-2024.08
Ho Haptics Lab @ Kyushu University, Japan
Research Intern advised by Prof. Hsin-Ni Ho
Topic: Development of Hydroptical Thermal Display (IEEE Haptics '26) - 2023.08-2024.02
-
2023.05-2023.08
Interaction Group @ Omron Sinic X, Japan
Research Intern advised by Dr. Shigeo Yoshida
Topic: Swarm Body (CHI '24)
Teaching
-
2026
TA / Developer in Accessibility Initiative for OMSCS
@ Georgia Tech, USA -
2025, 2024
TA in LMC 2700 Intro to Computational Media
@ Georgia Tech, USA -
Instructor in LMC 2400 Intro to Media Studies
@ Georgia Tech, USA -
2023
TA in LMC 6130 Computer as Expressive Medium
@ Georgia Tech, USA -
2019
Translator in JSPS Science Dialogue Program
@ Akashi Kita Science High School, Japan report -
2018
Instructor in Japanese History
@ Johan Heinrich Pestalozzi Elementary School, Northern Macedonia -
2017
Instructor in Kyoto University Disaster Prevention School
@ Five elementary schools in Makassar, Indonesia -
TA in Engineering Science Global Communication Programme
@ Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore
Articles
Other Works
Heat-O-Phone | Guthman Fair '23
MomentoChroma
Tsunami Estimation
-
The Effect of Temperature Presentation According to the Gaze of Others on Remote Communications
Sosuke Ichihashi, Arata Horie, Zendai Kashino, Shigeo Yoshida, Masahiko Inami
VRSJ '21 paper (Japanese) -
High-Response Thermal Presentation by Controlling Infrared Radiant Intensity Using a Shutter Mechanism
Sosuke Ichihashi, Arata Horie, Zendai Kashino, Shigeo Yoshida, Masahiko Inami
IPSJ EC '21 paper (Japanese) -
Preliminary Study on Orientation Perception with Far Infrared Stimulus
Sosuke Ichihashi, Arata Horie, Hiroto Saito, Zendai Kashino, Masahiko Inami
SICE SI '20 program (Japanese) -
UT Austin GEO 327G GIS & GPS Applications in Earth Sciences: Maps of the Week
class website -
UT Austin GEO 327G GIS & GPS Applications in Earth Sciences: Final Project
Population Affected by the Tsunami of the Tohoku Earthquake; March 11, 2011
paper -
Graduation Thesis at Kyoto University
Combinatorial Optimization for Parameter Identification of a Rainfall-Runoff Model Applied to 120 Dam River Basins in Japan