Masaki Kuribayashi

HCI Researcher at Woven By Toyota

Interest: Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Accessibility, Human-Centered AI

News

  • Apr. 2026: I joined Woven By Toyota as an HCI Researcher!
  • Feb. 2026: One poster paper is accepted to CHI2026!
  • Feb. 2026: One paper is accepted to ICRA2026!
  • Jan. 2026: Two papers are accepted to CHI2026!
  • Aug. 2025: One paper has been accepted to RA-L!

Bio

  • Apr. 2026 - Current: HCI Researcher at Woven By Toyota
  • Apr. 2023 - Mar. 2026: Ph.D. Student at Waseda University
  • Apr. 2023 - Mar. 2026: Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (DC1)
  • Aug. 2024 - Mar. 2026: Part Time Researcher, Miraikan Accessibility Lab, Miraikan - The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation
  • Aug. 2025 - Oct. 2025: Intern, Woven By Toyota
  • Jan. 2024 - May. 2025: Visiting Researcher, H2X lab, Boston University, Advisor: Eshed Ohn-Bar
  • Apr. 2021 - Jan. 2024: Research Intern, IBM Research - Tokyo, Advisor: Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa, Tatsuya Ishihara
  • Jun. 2022 - Sept. 2022: Visiting Researcher, Cognitive Assistance Lab, Carnegie Mellon University, Advisor: Daisuke Sato, Chieko Asakawa

Projects

* indicates equal contribution.

Time-Aware Assistive Navigation
Time-Aware Assistive Navigation
ICRA 2026 PDF
Masaki Kuribayashi*, Zhongkai Shangguan*, Eshed Ohn-Bar
Robot-Assisted Group Tours for Blind People
Robot-Assisted Group Tours for Blind People
CHI 2026 PDF
Rayna Hata, Masaki Kuribayashi, Allan Wang, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa
How Does Delegation in Social Interaction Evolve Over Time? Navigation with a Robot for Blind People
How Does Delegation in Social Interaction Evolve Over Time? Navigation with a Robot for Blind People
CHI 2026 PDF
Yaxin Hu, Masaki Kuribayashi, Allan Wang, Seita Kayukawa, Daisuke Sato, Bilge Mutlu, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa
Map-less Navigation for Blind People
Map-less Navigation for Blind People
PhD Thesis PDF
Masaki Kuribayashi
SlopeNav: A Realtime Wearable Blind Ski Assistance System with Adaptive Path Planning for Simulated Environments
AHs 2025 PDF
Toshihiro Hirano, Yichen Peng, Masaki Kuribayashi, Erwin Wu, Shigeo Morishima, and Hideki Koike
WanderGuide: Indoor Map-less Robotic Guide for Exploration by Blind People
CHI 2025 PDF
Masaki Kuribayashi, Kohei Uehara, Allan Wang, Shigeo Morishima, and Chieko Asakawa
Azusa Ono Memorial Award
Understanding and Supporting Formal Email Exchange by Answering AI-Generated Questions
CHI 2025 PDF
Yusuke Miura, Chi-Lan Yang, Masaki Kuribayashi, Keigo Matsumoto, Hideki Kuzuoka, and Shigeo Morishima
CHI 2026 Honorable Mention, Azusa Ono Memorial Award
Memory-Maze: Scenario Driven Visual Language Navigation Benchmark for Guiding Blind People
RA-L 2025 PDF
Masaki Kuribayashi*, Kohei Uehara*, Allan Wang, Daisuke Sato, Renato Ribeiro, Simon Chu, and Shigeo Morishima
ChitChatGuide: Conversational Interaction Using Large Language Models for Assisting People with Visual Impairments to Explore a Shopping Mall
MobileHCI 2024 PDF
Yuka Kaniwa*, Masaki Kuribayashi*, Seita Kayukawa, Daisuke Sato, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa, Shigeo Morishima
Snap&Nav: Smartphone-based Indoor Navigation System For Blind People via Floor Map Analysis and Intersection Detection
MobileHCI 2024 PDF
Masaya Kubota*, Masaki Kuribayashi*, Seita Kayukawa, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa, Shigeo Morishima
Text to Blind Motion
NeurIPS 2024 PDF
Hee Jae Kim, Kathakoli Sengupta, Masaki Kuribayashi, Hernisa Kacorri, Eshed Ohn-Bar
PathFinder: Designing a Map-less Navigation System for Blind People in Unfamiliar Buildings
CHI 2023 PDF
Masaki Kuribayashi, Tatsuya Ishihara, Daisuke Sato, Jayakorn Vongkulbhisal, Karnik Ram, Seita Kayukawa, Hironobu Takagi, Shigeo Morishima, and Chieko Asakawa
Exploration of Sonification Feedback for People with Visual Impairment to Use Ski Simulator
AHs 2023 PDF
Yusuke Miura, Erwin Wu, Masaki Kuribayashi, Hideki Koike, Shigeo Morishima
Corridor-Walker: Mobile Indoor Walking Assistance for Blind People to Avoid Obstacles and Recognize Intersections
MobileHCI 2022 PDF
Masaki Kuribayashi, Seita Kayukawa, Jayakorn Vongkulbhisal, Daisuke Sato, Chieko Asakawa, Hironobu Takagi, Shigeo Morishima
LineChaser: A Smartphone-Based Navigation System for Blind People to Stand in Line
CHI 2021 PDF
Masaki Kuribayashi*, Seita Kayukawa*, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa, and Shigeo Morishima
Azusa Ono Memorial Award
`Thank God I’m Fly!'': A Gyaru Persona Chatbot for Adopting a Positive Mindset to Prevent and Mitigate Negative Emotions
`Thank God I’m Fly!'': A Gyaru Persona Chatbot for Adopting a Positive Mindset to Prevent and Mitigate Negative Emotions
CHI 2026 Posters PDF
Momoka Ikegami, Masaki Kuribayashi, Takuya Kato, Saizo Aoyagi, Tatsunori Hirai
Spatial Audio for Ski Simulation with Visually Impaired Users in Dynamic Environments
SA 2025 Posters PDF
Yuta Taguchi, Toshihiro Hirano, Masaki Kuribayashi, Yichen Peng, Erwin Wu, Hideki Koike, Shigeo Morishima
Investigating Blind People's Route Perception of Complex Pre-Mapped Routes in Virtual Reality
UIST 2025 Posters PDF
Masaya Kubota, Masaki Kuribayashi, Renato Ribeiro, and Shigeo Morishima

Awards

  1. 2020年度 早稲田大学小野梓記念学術賞(Azusa Ono memorial award 2020) - Mar. 2021
  2. WISS最優秀論文賞(WISS best paper award) - Dec. 2020
  3. 2024年度 早稲田大学小野梓記念学術賞(Azusa Ono memorial award 2024) - Mar. 2025
  4. CHI Honorable Mention Award - May. 2025

Academic Service

  • Assistants to Local Chairs, Organizing Committee of CHI2025
  • Associate Chair of CHI LBW 2025
  • External Reviewer of ASSETS, CHI, IMWUT, Mobile HCI, ICRA, and HRI
  • Miraikan Accessibility Networking Event Organizer

Fellowships

  1. Research Fellowship for Young Scientists (DC1) JSPS (日本学術振興会 特別研究員DC1) - Apr. 2023 - Mar. 2026
  2. Scholarship for Outstanding Master Students Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO) (日本学生支援機構 奨学金 全額返済免除 ) - Apr. 2021 - Mar. 2023
  3. Isao Okawa Scholarship for Information Technology Science(大川功情報通信学術奨学金) - Mar. 2023
  4. Visiting support from Super Global University (SGU), ICT & Robotics, Waseda University, - Jan. 2024. - May. 2025
  5. Scholarship for short-term study abroad, Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO), - Jan. 2024. - May. 2025.
  6. Travel support from The Telecommunications Advancement Foundation to MobileHCI 2024 (Melbourne) - Oct. 2024

Talks

  1. Introduction to Accessibility Research (Hong Kong Japanese School) - May 2023
  2. PathFinder: Designing a Map-less Navigation System for Blind People in Unfamiliar Buildings (Workshop on Interactive Systems and Software (WISS 2023)) - Nov 2023
  3. PathFinder: Designing a Map-less Navigation System for Blind People in Unfamiliar Buildings (Forum on Information Technology (FIT 2024)) - Sep 2024
  4. Research Introduction; Map-less Navigation System for Blind People (A11y Meetup, Cybozu (Japan)) - Feb 2025
  5. PathFinder: Designing a Map-less Navigation System for Blind People in Unfamiliar Buildings (Global Creative Leaders Society, The University of Tokyo) - Mar 2025
  6. WanderGuide: Indoor Map-less Robotic Guide for Exploration by Blind People (CHI 2025 Symposium) - May 2025
  7. Navigation System for Blind People (Creative Japan Session at Siggraph ASIA 2025) - Dec 2025
  8. 視覚障害者のMap-less Navigation System実現のための協調インタラクション (SSII 2026 Organized Session 人が使う画像センシング) - Jun 2026

Media

  1. CHI2023論文裏話
  2. ボストン大学留学レポート
  3. 研究入門者のためのGit/Github入門
  4. 研究入門者のための研究ツール・Tips紹介
  5. HCIからCVへ
  6. Hugging FaceにSSHで接続してGitでモデルをPushする方法
  7. 視覚障害者の移動 第3の選択肢 「AIスーツケース」開発スタッフに聞く
  8. Coding Accessibility: Dr. Asakawa Audio Descriptive Version