Featured HIVE Projects
HMI Horizon 25
HMI Horizon 2025 is a showcase of interactive installations, immersive systems, XR experiences, sonic interfaces, robotics, and speculative design by HMI students and the HIVE Lab.
Music Technology at HIVE
A compilation of different music technology projects at HIVE Lab, Department of Design, IIT Kanpur.
Echo Vision — Fashion Technology
Talk to the system about what/how you want the design to be, sketch a rough draft, see the design based on the prompt and sketch projected onto your T-shirt.
VReal-Space VR & Gamification — 3DGS
3D Gaussian Splatting scan of Bitur Temple, Kanpur — rendered into an immersive VR environment with spawnable interactive elements, tactical cover positions, and real-time spatial interaction. Explores gamification and training simulation using real-world photometric scans.
Eye-Tracking for ICU Patients
An eye-tracking-based Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) system for conscious tracheostomized ICU patients who cannot speak.
Pen Spinning
Pen Spinning art performance at HIVE, Department of Design, IIT Kanpur. Performer: Shusuke Tateishi (Osaka Metropolitan University).
All Projects
- HCI
- AI
- XR
- Music Tech
- Robotics
- New Media
- Installations
- Performance
- Assistive Tech
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Real-Space VR & Gamification — 3DGS
3D Gaussian Splatting scan of Bitur Temple, Kanpur — rendered into an immersive VR environment with spawnable interactive elements, tactical cover positions, and real-time spatial interaction. Explores gamification and training simulation using real-world photometric scans.
HMI Horizon 25
HMI Horizon 2025 is a showcase of interactive installations, immersive systems, XR experiences, sonic interfaces, robotics, and speculative design by HMI students and the HIVE Lab.
Red Mushrooms
An interactive arts installation presented at Design Foresight — a speculative design project exploring future human-environment interaction.
Swarings 2 — Ring-Based Musical Interface
Novel ring-based MIDI controller: touch triggers notes, sliding controls modulation, and rotation controls pitch bend. Continuous parameter control through natural gestural input. Patent: 202511072744.
Chord Continuum
Multi-touch interface for continuous harmonic navigation: chords as a continuous field, gestural interpolation across harmonic edges, and smooth voice-leading transitions beyond per-note MPE control.
360 Spatial Audio Showcase
A spatial audio storytelling experience inspired by Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne. Audience immersed in a dark room with quadraphonic speaker setup — narrative told entirely through sound, voice, Foley, and spatial mixing. DES 648, 2025.
360 Spatial Audio — Behind the Scenes
Documentary-style BTS of the production process — late-night recording sessions, Foley experiments, voice direction, spatial mixing workflow, and team collaboration. Direction & narrative: Diganta Ghorai. DES 648, 2025.
Indo-NIME Fusion Performance
Original composition performed with conventional and NIME instruments (Swarings, Tabla Glove (Layika), Carnatic Vocals, Piano, XR pitch visualiser, Guitar)
Vande Mataram Fusion Performance
A live performance of Vande Mataram with Piano, vocals and NIMEs (New Interfaces for Musical Expression) instruments like Swarings, Tabla Glove (Layika), and Chord Continuum.
Eye Tracking Glass
Wearable eye-tracking glasses enabling hands-free interaction and gaze-based control — exploring assistive applications for users with limited motor function.
Echo Vision — Fashion Technology
Talk to the system about your design intent, sketch a rough draft, and see the AI-generated design based on prompt and sketch projected directly onto your T-shirt via TouchDesigner and a diffusion model.
GraviTone
Gravity-well tangible musical interface. Objects orbit a central mass; camera tracks motion and maps it to OSC/MIDI signals, synth params, and real-time visuals. NIME 2025.
Music Glove — Tabla
Wearable electronic glove that plays tabla notes via wireless MIDI when tapped on finger creases — using counting gestures of Hindustani classical musicians for rhythmic timekeeping during solo practice. Patent: 202511071234.
NIME Performance — Swarings, Tabla Glove & Music Visualiser
Original composition performed with conventional and NIME instruments (Swarings, Tabla Glove, Launchpad, Keys) at the inauguration of HMI Horizon 25 at IIT Kanpur, with a live GenAI music visualiser.
Skyfall NIME Performance — Swarings, Tabla Glove & Music Visualiser
Skyfall by Adele Cover performed with NIME instruments (Swarings, Tabla Glove, Launchpad, Keys) at the inauguration of HMI Horizon 25 at IIT Kanpur, with a live GenAI music visualiser.
AI Music Visualiser
AI diffusion model in TouchDesigner interprets live song lyrics and per-instrument audio into synchronized generative visual compositions.
Mouth Tracker XR — CHI 2026
A mouth interface that reimagines XR interaction for people with limited mobility — developed with disabled artists as an activist provocation against hand-centric design. CHI 2026. Collaboration: HIVE IIT Kanpur & Immersive Arts Space, ZHdK Zurich.
Hand Movement-controlled Interface
Hand-tracking via Max/MSP maps Y-axis movement to modulation/expression in real time during MIDI keyboard performance.
Eye Gaze-controlled Interface
Eye-tracking lets musicians switch VST plugins hands-free during live performance — dwell-based or leg-pedal selection via Max/MSP.
Echovision for FLN
Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) solution using interactive shape transformation to semantics, visual form, and phonetics — built with TouchDesigner and a diffusion model.
WashPlay — Gamified Hygiene
Projection mapping of germs on hands during handwashing — transforming routine hygiene into an engaging, interactive gamified experience through visual feedback.
VR History Learning — 3DGS
Immersive VR-ready digital twin of the Vibholi Mata Mandir using drone-based 4K video, Structure-from-Motion, and 3D Gaussian Splatting in Unreal Engine — preserving cultural heritage for remote XR exploration.
PathBuddy
Smartphone app delivering real-time visual feedback and time-to-impact estimates for obstacles — minimizing the risk of distracted walking and jaywalking using an external depth sensor.
Eye-Tracking AAC for ICU Patients
Gaze-based Augmentative and Alternative Communication system for tracheostomized ICU patients — dwell-based icon selection and speech synthesis enabling communication with minimal motor control.
Pen Spinning — Interactive Art
Art performance by Shusuke Tateishi (Osaka Metropolitan University) with custom interactive graphics designed at HIVE during his research visit.
Phantom Visions
Teleconferencing booths where Gen AI transforms live dialogue into abstract artistic realities. Explores identity, temporality, and AI in human dialogue. Exhibited at FLAME University.
Reflective Resonance
Reimagining Indian Rangoli through interactive new media — TouchDesigner, Arduino, Blender 3D & Grasshopper. HMI Horizon 24, DES638 coursework.
SPACE POTTER
Virtual pottery using Leap Motion hand gestures — mold a virtual clay cylinder in real-time simulation. HMI Horizon 24, DES638 coursework.
StepUp
Body-tracking installation: a silhouette mirrors user movement; prolonged inactivity visibly degrades it — promoting active lifestyles. HMI Horizon 24.
Gaia's Gaze
Earth visualization reacting to visitor movement and behavior — reflecting the impact of human action on the planet's state in real time. HMI Horizon 24.
SELF RECRIMINATION
Interactive installation exploring self-reflection and introspection through embodied human-machine interaction. HMI Horizon 24.
Copy Monkey
Interactive installation exploring mimicry and playful human-machine gesture interaction. HMI Horizon 24.
Astral — Unity3D Game
Unity3D game developed as part of DES638 — Human Machine Interaction coursework at Department of Design, IIT Kanpur.
A+ In Survival — Unity3D Game
Unity3D survival game built as part of DES638 — Human Machine Interaction coursework at IIT Kanpur.
AI Painting
Real-time AI-driven painting generation at HIVE Lab — exploring generative image synthesis as a live creative tool.
Human AI Co-Creation
Prompt-driven generative painting — text-to-image interaction in a live creative performance context.
PRANA
Interactive installation at the Kanpur Literature Festival exploring breath, life-force, and embodied interaction.
CAVE-E: Controlled Artificial Virtual Earthquake Environment
VR-based environment simulating catastrophic effects experienced by users trapped in a collapsed building after an earthquake. Used for disaster training and rescue robot evaluation.
Serpentine Synergy: Dual Soft Continuum Manipulator & Snake Robot
Soft continuum robot using expanded polyethylene foam modules that functions both as a soft continuum manipulator (SCM) and a soft snake robot (SSR) for inspection and rescue.
VIPER: Versatile Inspection Probe for Exploration and Rescue
Simple but effective probe for inspection and exploration to find survivors during post-earthquake search operations in collapsed buildings and debris fields.
Dual-Robot Teleoperation using Meta Quest 3
Dual robot control using XR with Meta Quest 3 headset and hand controllers, providing an immersive and intuitive teleoperation experience for remote robotic operation.
Annexing Reality: Crushed Papers as Proxies for Debris
Real-time debris mapping from physical to virtual world using coloured crushed papers. Integrates real-world perception with virtual navigation using a snake-like robotic agent and A* path planning.
Augmented Virtuality-based Training of the VIPER
QR code-based training setup where a physical VIPER probe passes through virtual debris, giving trainees an immersive experience of how to operate the probe in rescue scenarios.
Multimodal Diminished Reality for Robotics
Diminished Reality (DR) system that selectively removes and inpaints objects of disinterest from the user's environment — an emerging paradigm within the XR spectrum for robotics applications.
EvaQR: QR Code-Guided Indoor Wayfinding
Cost-effective indoor navigation using QR code markers for real-time localization. Modified A* and Dijkstra algorithms for optimized pathfinding across floors — adaptable for hospitals and public buildings.
HUX: Heads-Up eXperience AI
AI-powered always-on heads-up interface for multimodal human-environment interaction. Full system demo. IndiaHCI 2024.
Phantom Visions — IndiaHCI 24
Arts Track installation at IndiaHCI 2024 — Gen AI transforms live conversation into abstract artistic environments.
Focused Clarity
Interactive installation exploring attention and mindfulness through embodied interaction. IndiaHCI 2024 Arts Track.
The Ripples
Kinetic sculpture using wave motion as a physical metaphor for human-machine interaction and ripple effects of action.
NurturBOT
Robot designed around plant and nature care — exploring human-robot-nature interaction and gentle autonomous behavior.
Symphony Brush
Multi-sensory expression — paint with sound, gesture, and motion in a unified interactive canvas experience.
The Bloom
Kinetic sculpture inspired by organic blooming motion — interactive physical computing meets nature-inspired aesthetics.
Dancing Drops
Kinetic water sculpture responding to input — merging fluid dynamics with interactive installation art.
Fun with Apple Vision Pro
Spatial computing interaction experiments on Apple Vision Pro at HIVE Lab — exploring visionOS paradigms.
EERIE 2
Short film by the Department of Design, IIT Kanpur — sequel exploring the uncanny relationship between humans and machines.
The Fold
Musical interface using folding geometry as metaphor — physical folding actions mapped to sound manipulation parameters.
FingerTingle
Finger-based musical interface leveraging tactile sensation and fine motor control for expressive real-time performance.
MEL — Musical Interface
Expressive musical interface exploring melodic control through unconventional interaction modalities at HIVE Lab.
EERIE
Original short film by the Department of Design, IIT Kanpur — the uncanny and unsettling aspects of human-machine coexistence.
Stardust
Immersive particle-based installation inspired by cosmic phenomena — visitor presence shapes the generative star-field.
Multisensory Music Visualiser — Cajon
Cajon percussion strikes translated into real-time visual and haptic feedback — a multisensory music experience.
Multi-sensory Visualiser — Frequency Sweep
Real-time multisensory system mapping audio frequency sweeps to synchronized visual and tactile output.
Musical Performance
Live musical performance showcasing HIVE Lab's music technology research, novel instruments, and interactive stage systems.
Big Brother is Watching
Critical design installation illuminating dystopian surveillance themes through immersive interactive experience.
Nebula
Nebula-themed installation with generative cosmic visuals that respond to audience presence and motion.
Interactive Mat
Pressure-sensitive mat responding to footsteps and body weight with audiovisual feedback — a floor-based interaction interface.
Circuit Sculpture
Sculptural object built from exposed electronic circuitry — bridging engineering craft with aesthetic and artistic expression.
Smart Sip — Water Bottle
IoT-enabled smart water bottle monitoring hydration habits and delivering contextual nudges for healthy drinking behavior.