Romain Nith

Romain Nith is a PhD candidate in Computer Science at the University of Chicago, working in the Human Computer Integration Lab led by Prof. Pedro Lopes. His research focuses on haptics, wearable devices, and VR/AR, with a particular interest in technologies—such as electrical muscle stimulation (EMS)—to augment physical and cognitive abilities.

His work has been published at top Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) venues, including ACM CHI and UIST, earning a Best Paper Award and two Honorable Mentions. His research has also been featured in outlets such as New Scientist, IEEE Spectrum, and Engadget, and also received a Guinness World Record.

Romain previously interned as a Research Scientist at Meta’s Reality Labs Research, working in the haptics team. He holds a B.Eng. in Computer Engineering from McGill University, where he was a member of the McGill Formula Electric team, designing and racing Formula-style vehicles.

CV / Google Scholar / Email / LinkedIn

Selected research

Generative Muscle Stimulation: Providing Users with Physical Assistance by Constraining Multimodal-AI with Embodied Knowledge

Yun Ho*, Romain Nith*, Peili Jiang, Steven He, Bruno Felalaga, Shan-Yuan Teng, Rhea Seeralan, Pedro Lopes

ACM CHI 2026 [paper] [video] [talk] [CHI26 live talk] [code+data]

Best Paper Award (top 1%)

Modeling Perceived Force of Electrical Muscle Stimulation to Improve User’s Recall

Mithil Guruvugari, Romain Nith, Pedro Lopes

ACM CHI 2026 [paper] [talk] [CHI26 live talk]

Adaptive Electrical Muscle Stimulation Improves Muscle Memory

Siya Choudhary*, Romain Nith*, Yun Ho, Jas Brooks, Mithil Guruvugari, Pedro Lopes

ACM CHI 2025 [paper] [video] [talk]

SplitBody: Reducing Mental Workload while Multitasking via Muscle Stimulation

Romain Nith, Yun Ho, Pedro Lopes

ACM CHI 2024 [paper] [video] [talk] [CHI24 live talk] [github]

Best Paper Award (top 1%)

DextrEMS: Increasing Dexterity in Electrical Muscle Stimulation by Combining it with Brakes

Romain Nith, Shan-Yuan Teng, Pengyu Li, Yujie Tao, Pedro Lopes

ACM UIST 2021 [paper] [video] [talk] [github]

Best Demo Award (People’s Choice)
Guinness World Records (Most precise bionic hand controller)

Other publications

ecoEDA: Recycling E-waste During Electronics Design

Jasmine Lu, Beza Desta, K D Wu, Romain Nith, Joyce Passananti, Pedro Lopes

ACM UIST 2023 [paper] [video] [github]

Best Paper Honorable Mention Award (top 5%)

JumpMod: Haptic Backpack that Modifies Users’ Perceived Jump

Romain Nith, Jacob Serfaty, Sam Shatzkin, Alan Shen, Pedro Lopes

ACM CHI 2023 [paper] [video] [talk] [CHI23 live talk] [SIGGRAPH23] [github]

DigituSync: A Dual-User Passive Exoskeleton Glove That Adaptively Shares Hand Gestures

Jun Nishida, Yudai Tanaka, Romain Nith, Pedro Lopes

ACM UIST 2022 [paper] [video]

Touch&Fold: A Foldable Haptic Actuator for Rendering Touch in Mixed Reality

Shan-Yuan Teng, Pengyu Li, Romain Nith, Joshua Fonseca, Pedro Lopes

ACM CHI 2021 [paper] [video]

Best Paper Honorable Mention Award (top 5%)

MagnetIO: Passive yet Interactive Soft Haptic Patches Anywhere

Alex Mazursky, Shan-Yuan Teng, Romain Nith, Pedro Lopes

ACM CHI 2021 [paper] [video]

Stereo-smell via Electrical Trigeminal Stimulation

Jas Brooks, Shan-Yuan Teng, Jingxuan Wen, Romain Nith, Jun Nishida, Pedro Lopes

ACM CHI 2021 [paper] [video]

Fast Company Innovation by Design Honorable Mention Award

Falconer: A Tethered Aerial Companion for Enhancing Personal Space

Romain Nith, Jun Rekimoto

IEEE VR 2019 Workshop [IEEE paper]
CHI HDi 2019 Workshop [HAL paper]

Hydrogen evolution and dynamics in hydrogel electrochemical cells for ischemia–reperfusion therapy

Wen Li, Jing Zhang, Romain Nith, Jiping Yue, Ananth Kamath, Chuanwang Yang, Chen Wei, Brennan Lee, Pengju Li, Hsiu-Ming Tsai, Tiantian Guo, Changxu Sun, Saehyun Kim, Lewis L Shi, Pedro Lopes, Lihua Jin, Bozhi Tian

Nature Chemical Engineering, August 2025 [paper]

A stretchable and strain-unperturbed pressure sensor for motion-interference-free tactile monitoring on skins

Qi Su, Q. Zou, Yang Li, Yuzhen Chen, Shan-Yuan Teng, Jane Tunde Kelleher, Romain Nith, Ping Cheng, Nan Li, Wei Liu, Shilei Dai, Youdi Liu, Alex Mazursky, Jie Xu, Lihua Jin, Pedro Lopes, Sihong Wang

Science Advances, November 2021 [paper]