Yasith Samaradivakara

Freestyle Technologist & HCI Researcher

I’m a graduate student in the Fluid Interfaces group at the MIT Media Lab, advised by Prof. Pattie Maes . Through my work, I build first-person, always-on wearables and multimodal AI systems and study how they augment human perception and cognition—helping people understand themselves and the world. I aim to inspire technologies that elevate our inner capacities and unlock humanity’s potential while preserving our humanity.

Before MIT, I was a Researcher and Engineer at the Augmented Human Lab (National University of Singapore) with Prof. Suranga Nanayakkara, where I designed intelligent wearable companions as sensory substitutes for people with different abilities.

Selected Projects

SeEar

A low-cost AR device with localized real-time captions tailored to enhance the educational experience of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) students.

AiSee

AI-powered companion for people with visual impairments to independently access visual information.

Mirai

Wearable AI system with an integrated camera, real-time speech processing, and personalized voice-cloning to provide proactive and contextual nudges for positive behavior change.

Hatthini

Conversational companion for emotional regulation, using AI to assist users in managing emotions effectively.

Kavy

Conversational AI agent designed to foster language-speaking skills and build self-confidence.

ICOAE

Wristband and mobile app for health monitoring and emergency handling, designed for elderly individuals.

SpeechAssist

Mobile app designed to support advanced stammering treatments such as Delayed Auditory Feedback (DAF).

Publications

SeEar: Tailoring Real-time AR Caption Interfaces for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) Students in Specialized Educational Settings

CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2024
Yasith Samaradivakara, Thavindu Ushan, Asela Pathirage, Prasanth Sasikumar, Kasun Karunanayaka, Chamath Keppitiyagama, Suranga Nanayakkara

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Mirai: A Wearable Proactive AI "Inner-Voice" for Contextual Nudging

CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2025
Cathy Mengying Fang, Yasith Samaradivakara, Pattie Maes, Suranga Nanayakkara

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EMO-KNOW: A Large Scale Dataset on Emotion-Cause

Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: EMNLP, 2023
Mia Nguyen, Yasith Samaradivakara, Prasanth Sasikumar, Chitralekha Gupta, Suranga Nanayakkara

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Kavy: Fostering Language Speaking Skills and Self-Confidence Through Conversational AI

Proceedings of the Augmented Humans International Conference, 2024
Sankha Cooray, Chathuranga Hettiarachchi, Vishaka Nanayakkara, Denys Matthies, Yasith Samaradivakara, Suranga Nanayakkara

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Catch that Butterfly: Detecting and Simulating Gut Feelings with Gut-Brain Interface

Proceedings of the 37th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, 2024
Mia Huong Nguyen, Kian Peen Yeo, Yasith Samaradivakara, Suranga Nanayakkara

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ARTeacher: Tailored Real-time AR Captioning Interface for Enhancing Learning Experience of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) Students

International Journal of Human Computer Interaction, 2024
Yasith Samaradivakara, Thavindu Ushan, Asela Pathirage, Prasanth Sasikumar, Kasun Karunanayaka, Chamath Keppitiyagama, Suranga Nanayakkara

In Review