Shuowen Li （李硕文）

Shuowen Li （李硕文）

Tsinghua University

HCI researcher with interdisciplinary background in engineering & design.

Hi! I’m Shuowen Li (李硕文), a second-year M.S. student in Optical Engineering at Tsinghua University, advised by Prof. Liangcai Cao. I also work as a research intern at the Academy of Arts & Design, mentored by Prof. Haipeng Mi. Previously, I received my B.S. in Physics from Lanzhou University, where I studied nanomaterial design under Prof. Hao Jia.

My research focuses on human–AI interaction, computational imaging, and creative robotics. I am interested in how intelligent systems can support human creativity by enabling semantic evolution, co-creative storytelling, and generative design. Combining science and art, I build interactive systems that help people create with AI in both digital and physical contexts.

Check out my CV for more!

🧪 Projects

🧬 Semantic-Guided Artificial Life System

Developed a real-time interactive system where users evolve digital lifeforms using natural language prompts. Integrated CLIP-based multimodal evaluation and CMA-ES optimization, supporting both semantic guidance and emergent swarm behaviors. Enables participatory generative design in the spirit of “evolving with intention”.

🐒 Houxi: Swarm Robotic Theater

Created a swarm-based storytelling system inspired by the Chinese fable “The Monkeys and the Moon”. Robots perform on a tabletop stage using path dynamics and spatial formations to convey plot and emotion. Dynamic projection enriches the narrative with vivid scenery and interactive visual cues.

🤖 PuppetLine: Swarm Robotic Storytelling

Built a tangible storytelling system using Toio robots and large language models (LLMs). Translates children’s narrative inputs into synchronized multi-robot actions and emotions. The system empowers co-creative expression through embodied interaction.

✋ Embo: A Wearable Robot for Empathy Education

Designed a wearable puppet robot that transforms verbal aggression into tactile pressure feedback, addressing bullying scenarios in child–robot interaction. Combines natural language analysis and haptic feedback to build emotional awareness.

🖼️ 3D Display Quality Assessment

Proposed a hybrid evaluation framework for glasses-free 3D displays, integrating optical metrics and human visual comfort analysis. Contributed to drafting industry standards for autostereoscopic display technologies.

🪞 Holographic Interaction System

Developed an interactive system that combines holographic 3D projection and hand-tracking sensors. Enables contactless, real-time interaction with floating 3D visuals through gesture recognition. Demonstrates the potential of holography in immersive and intuitive human–computer interfaces.

Astronomical reconstruction

🌌 Astronomical Image Reconstruction

Developed a GPU-accelerated pipeline for turbulence removal in single-frame astronomical images using blind deconvolution, deformable convolution, and diffusion models. Collaborated on hardware–software co-design with a four-aperture telescope array.

📄 Publications

(* indicates co-first author)

  1. Shuowen Li, Kexin Wang, Minglu Fang, Danqi Huang, Ali Asadipour, Haipeng Mi, Yitong Sun. Participatory Evolution of Artificial Life Systems via Semantic Feedback. Submitted to SIGGRAPH Asia 2025 Art Papers. (Under Review)
  2. Ruhan Wang, Shuowen Li, Peiran Zhang, Danqi Huang, Yijie Guo, Haipeng Mi. PuppetLine: An Interactive System for Embodied Storytelling with LLM-driven Swarm Robots. Submitted to TEI 2026. (Under Review)
  3. Shihan Qiu*, Yuhan Xie*, Shuowen Li*, Wei Guo, Xiaoyue Gao, Yijie Guo. Embo: A Wearable Robot Transforming Child-Directed Verbal Aggression into Tactile Feedback. In: ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI '24) Companion, 2024, pp. 857–861.
  4. Shuowen Li, Liangcai Cao. Multidimensional Crosstalk Analysis in Autostereoscopic Displays: Integrating Subjective and Objective Evaluations for Image Quality Assessment. Optics Express, 33(8), 2025, pp. 16911–16924.
  5. Shuowen Li, Yunhui Gao, Jiachen Wu, Mingjie Wang, Zhangcheng Huang, Shumei Chen, Liangcai Cao. Lensless Camera: Unraveling the Breakthroughs and Prospects. Fundamental Research, 2024. (In Press)
  6. Shuowen Li, Yunhui Gao, Jiachen Wu, Liangcai Cao. Blind Deblurring of Astronomical Images Using SCGTV-Based Single-Frame Method. Optics Express, 32(20), 2024, pp. 35579–35593.
Matter book cover

📘 Book Translation

Geoff Cottrell. Matter: A Very Short Introduction .
Translated by Xiang Liu, Shuowen Li, Jiageng Li.
Yilin Press, 2024. ISBN: 9787575301671.

A concise yet wide-ranging introduction to matter, guiding readers through its forms from fundamental particles to cosmic structures—with clarity and accessibility.

Skills

  • Programming: Python, MATLAB, Java, C++
  • Softwares: Blender, Unity, SolidWorks, Arduino, Adobe Illustrator, Lumerical FDTD, Zemax

Research Interests

  • Human–AI Co-Creation: Designing interactive systems that fuse generative AI with human intention, language, and emotion.
  • Computational Design Tools: Building tools for evolving, simulating, and editing digital forms—across visual, spatial, and behavioral dimensions.
  • Creative Robotics & Embodied Interaction: Leveraging swarm behavior, wearable tech, and storytelling to create expressive physical interactions.
  • Computational Imaging: From lensless cameras to astronomical deblurring, exploring inverse problems in optical system design.
  • Visual Perception & Evaluation: Studying how humans perceive 3D content, depth, and image quality, and modeling this in computational terms.