Experience
Mar 2026 - now
CEO & Co-Founder
FlowsXR · Singapore
Building Sidekick, an AI assistant that delivers real-time procedural guidance to field technicians through smart glasses, escalating to a verified human expert when the model’s confidence drops. FlowsXR also builds custom wearable and XR software for industry clients and research labs across healthcare, training and F&B, with ongoing projects at NUS and a major F&B company.
2023 - 2026
Research Fellow
National University of Singapore · Singapore
Led a Meta-funded programme on VR motion sickness, which produced VR.net, the largest real-world dataset of its kind, and the VRSense system built on top of it. Worked on adaptive VR/AR driven by physiological and behavioural sensing, and mentored students on emotion detection with LLMs for virtual companions.
2022
Graduate Teaching Assistant, XR Technologies
University of Auckland
Ran technical tutorials and hands-on workshops on XR development tools and platforms (Unity, Unreal Engine, Meta Spark Studio, Mozilla Hubs), and mentored students through XR hackathons.
2021 - 2022
Research Assistant
Massey University · New Zealand
Built a HoloLens 2 AR application for building fire-safety training and ran a comparative study against traditional methods. Designed a multi-Azure-Kinect array to reconstruct pedestrian movement in corridors for evacuation planning, which fed a successful Marsden Fund proposal.
2020 - 2022
Graduate Teaching Assistant
School of Design, University of Auckland
Co-designed and taught Designing Mixed Realities, an undergraduate course on MR and Unity design, alongside Design Methods and Processes and Design Theory and Fundamentals. Wrote course materials, assignments and evaluation matrices, and delivered weekly instruction across several semesters.
2020 - 2022
Research Assistant
University of Auckland
Built an AR breast bio-imaging overlay for evaluation with the biomimetics research group, and a Magic Leap interactive showroom prototype for Mercedes-Benz with configurable vehicle customisation.
2018 - 2019
XR Developer
JiX Reality · New Zealand
Worked with the National Museum of New Zealand through the Mahuki innovation programme on interactive exhibits: a sandbox projecting dynamic landscapes, a Leap Motion exhibit, and cost-effective AR heads-up displays.
2017 - 2018
Online Tutor, part-time
Studiosity
One-on-one online tutoring in mathematics and English for year 11 and 12 students across New Zealand and Australia, covering coursework and exam preparation.
2014 - 2016
Full Stack Developer
IBS Software · India
Built web application features across the stack for airline IT products.
Education
2019 - 2024
PhD, Bioengineering
University of Auckland
Thesis: Using Multimodal Interaction in Remote Collaboration, at the Empathic Computing Lab and the Auckland Bioengineering Institute. AR for local collaboration and VR for remote expertise, using depth cameras to reconstruct the environment and physiological cues to infer what collaborators were feeling.
Empathic computing and mixed reality collaboration, in three minutes. 2017 - 2018
Master's, Human Interface Technology
University of Canterbury
Thesis: Haptic contact in immersive 360° cinematic environment, at the HIT Lab NZ. Compared direct and indirect haptic feedback in VR, building a vibrating floor and an impact suit for the former and fan arrays for the latter, then measured what each did to immersion.
2010 - 2014
Bachelor of Engineering, Computer Science
University of Kerala
Undergraduate studies in computer science and engineering.
Awards & Grants
2026
Meta Aria Summit Invitation
Meta
Invited back for a second consecutive year.
2025
Meta Aria Summit Invitation
Meta
Invited to the Aria Summit in Seattle.
2024
IEEE VR Best Paper Award, journal track
IEEE VR
One of six best paper awards at IEEE VR 2024, for VR.net: A Real-world Dataset for Virtual Reality Motion Sickness Research, published in IEEE TVCG 30(5).
Presenting the VR.net work at IEEE VR 2024. 2024
Meta XR Hackathon, invited participant
Meta
Presence Platform development, Istanbul.
2023
Meta XR Hackathon, invited participant
Meta
Presence Platform development at the Presence SDK launch, Menlo Park.
2019
TEC PhD Scholarship
Tertiary Education Commission, New Zealand
Competitive national award covering PhD tuition and stipend.
2017
MYOB IT Challenge, second place
MYOB
A mobile AR inventory management application, with Fiona Ambler and Logan Williams as Team GYOB.
2017
MBIE Masters Tuition Grant
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, New Zealand
Competitive national tuition support for postgraduate study.
Service & Memberships
2025
Organiser and Judge
ICE Workshop 2025
Sri Lanka, sponsored by Meta. Judged projects and mentored participants.
2024
Student Volunteer Chair
IEEE ISMAR 2024
Ran volunteer recruitment, scheduling and on-site operations.
2024
Organiser and Judge
ICE Workshop 2024
Sri Lanka, sponsored by Meta. Judged projects and mentored participants.
2023
Student Volunteer Chair
IEEE VR 2023
Ran volunteer recruitment, scheduling and on-site operations.
2022
Student Volunteer Chair
IEEE VR 2022
Ran volunteer recruitment, scheduling and on-site operations.
2021
Organiser and Speaker
International XR Workshop 2021
Ran sessions on XR research, development and emerging technologies.
Ongoing
Member
IEEE Computer Society
Publications
2026
Two-Stage Multimodal Framework for Emotion Mimicry Intensity Prediction
Interrupting Autopilot: Evaluating Sensory Interventions for Momentary Self-Regulation
Zenflow: Investigating MR Transitions for Enhancing Sleep and Relaxation
EmoDrink: Embodied MR for Physiology-Informed Beverage Recommendation
2025
2024
Motion as Emotion: Detecting Affect and Cognitive Load from Free-Hand Gestures in VR
Optical see-through augmented reality fire safety training for building occupants
Exploring an Extended Reality Floatation Tank Experience to Reduce the Fear of Being in Water
VR.net: A Real-world Dataset for Virtual Reality Motion Sickness Research
A User Study on Sharing Physiological Cues in VR Assembly Tasks
2023
EMO-KNOW: A Large Scale Dataset on Emotion and Emotion-cause
haptic HONGI: Reflections on Collaboration in the Transdisciplinary Creation of an AR Artwork
Using Multimodal Interaction in Remote Collaboration
2022
2021
Spatial Perception Enhancement in Assembly Training Using Augmented Volumetric Playback
XRTB: A Cross Reality Teleconference Bridge to Incorporate 3D Interactivity to 2D Teleconferencing
First Contact – Take 2: Using XR Technology as a Bridge between Māori, Pākehā and People from Other Cultures in Aotearoa, New Zealand
2020
2019
2018
Haptic contact in immersive 360° cinematic environment