Yasith Samaradivakara | Research Engineer

Projects

Enhancing Educational Experience of DHH Students (Yasith Samaradivakara Project)

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.

Contribution - Lead, Ideation, Research, Design and Development

AiSee

AI Powered Companion for People with Visual Impairments (PVI) to independently access visual information.

Contribution - Research, Design and Development of Software

SpeechAssist

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

Contribution - Lead, Ideation, Research, Design and Development

ICOAE

The project, ICOAE (In Case of an Emergency), involves developing a Wristband and a Mobile app for health monitoring and emergency handling specifically designed for elderly individuals.

Contribution - Lead, Ideation, Research, Design and Development

Hatthini

Conversational Companion for Emotional Regulation

Contribution - Research, Design and Development

Kavy

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

Contribution - Research, Design and Development

Teacher Transfer

First official Sri Lankan mobile e-government initiative to automate college teacher transfer process.

Contribution - Lead, Design and Development

Hith

A telemedicine platform enhancing therapist-patient interactions for more effective remote consultations.

Contribution - Design and Development

Affective Sign Language Translator

A sign language-to-voice translator that incorporates emotional context and affective states.

Contribution - Ideation, Research, Design and Development

IBiZ

Comprehensive ERP system integrating finance, HR, SCM, and CRM for seamless end-to-end business management.

Contribution - Design and Development

Bright REDD

A cyber threat and risk assessment tool designed to enhance security for companies in Brisbane, Australia.

Contribution - Design and Development

NOI Sri Lanka

Official website of National Olympiad in Informatics, Sri Lanka

Contribution - Lead, Design and Development

GutFeel Hatthini

Wearable technology for sensing and influencing gut feelings through real-time monitoring and feedback.

Contribution - Research, Design and Development

Tangible Metric Interface

A physical tool that visually and interactively represents food, electricity, and waste consumption data.

Contribution - Ideation, Research, Design and Development

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

View PDF Video

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

View PDF

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

View PDF

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

Authors: Mia Huong Nguyen, Kian Peen Yeo, Yasith Samaradivakara , Suranga Nanayakkara

Yet to publish

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

Yet to publish

Experience

Education

University of Colombo - B.Sc (Hons) in Computing

CGPA: 3.97/4.0

Graduated: 2024

Location: Colombo, Sri Lanka

Work

Research Engineer - Augmented Human Lab, National University of Singapore

May 2024 - Present

Location: Singapore

Research Intern - Augmented Human Lab, National University of Singapore

Nov 2022 - Jun 2023

Location: Singapore

Remote Research Collaborator - Cardiff University, United Kingdom

July 2023

Location: Remote

Software Engineer (Part-time, Contractual) - PeachIT

Oct 2020 - Sep 2021

Location: Remote, Sri Lanka

Software Engineer - StredgeTech Solutions

May 2018 - Aug 2020

Location: Colombo, Sri Lanka

Internship - Huawei, Thailand

Sep 2022

Location: Bangkok, Thailand

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant - University of Colombo School of Computing

Jun 2023 - Dec 2023

Location: Colombo, Sri Lanka

Other

Volunteering

Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors (MLSA)
Represented Microsoft on campus, orchestrating educational events and tech seminars, and promoting a culture of innovation and technological proficiency among peers.

GitHub Campus Expert
Led diverse initiatives including workshops, hackathons, and mentorship programs, fostering a dynamic local student community focused on collaborative learning, project development, and creating inclusive tech spaces.

Mentor - National and International ICT Olympiads
Mentored Sri Lankan students in National and International ICT Olympiads.

Executive Board Member
Webmaster of IEEE UCSC, IEEE Sri Lanka, ACM, and Computer Science Society of the University of Colombo.

Speaker, Organizer, Mentor
Conducted over 20 knowledge-sharing speeches, organized hackathons and workshops, and mentored students.

Scholarships and Awards

Huawei Seeds for the Future, 2022
Selected as a team leader from Sri Lankan undergraduates for a prestigious program.

NUS Summer Research Internship
Chosen from over 900 applicants for a competitive research internship.

First Undergraduate CHI Paper from Sri Lanka
First Sri Lankan undergraduate to publish a paper as the first author at CHI.

Best University Project of the Year (2022)
Silver award for the best university project at the National ICT Awards, representing all universities in Sri Lanka.

Most Outstanding Student of the School (2018)
Recognized for exceptional performance in cricket and academic achievements at Advanced Level.

National Level School Cricketer
Represented school, district, provincial, and national teams in under-19 cricket.

TadHack 2021 Winners
Won the Telco Open Hackathon and secured the Global 2nd Prize against industry and university teams.

Director's List and Best Performing Student
Awarded for outstanding academic and extracurricular performance.

Hackathons and Competitive Programming
Achieved national rankings in IEEEXtreme, DigitalOcean Hackathon, and other competitions.

Sam.

Projects

Publications

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

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

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

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

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

Experience

Education

Work

Other

Volunteering

Scholarships and Awards

Contact