Gabriela Vega

Hello 😊 I'm Gabriela Vega, a Master's student in Media Informatics at Saarland University in Germany and a research assistant in the Sensorimotor Interaction Group at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics, where I work with Paul Strohmeier on haptics and wearables.

Previously, I collaborated with Audrey Girouard and Karen Cochrane at the Creative Interactions Lab at Carleton University, and with Katia Vega at the Interactive Organisms Lab at UC Davis. I got my bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering at the Peruvian University of Applied Sciences, where I worked on IoT and Edge AI for agriculture.

I am interest in wearables, haptics, IoT, human wellbeing, AI companions, and AI alignement. Feel free to reach out if you're interested in projects or collaborations!

News

Publications

	Physical Compliance and the Compliance Illusion: The Importance of Action for Perception Easa AliAbbasi, Gabriela Vega, Dennis Wittchen, Paul Strohmeier IEEE World Haptics 2025 [URL]
	Sensorimotor Devices: Coupling Sensing and Actuation to Augment Bodily Experience Paul Strohmeier, Laia Turmo Vidal, Gabriela Vega, Courtney N Reed, Alex Mazursky, Easa AliAbbasi, Ana Tajadura-Jiménez, Jürgen Steimle CHI EA 2025 (Extended Abstracts) [URL]
	vARitouch: Back of the Finger Device for Adding Variable Compliance to Rigid Objects Gabriela Vega, Valentin Martinez-Missir, Dennis Wittchen, Nihar Sabnis, Audrey Girouard, Karen Anne Cochrane, Paul Strohmeier CHI 2024 [URL]
	Tactile Symbols with Continuous and Motion-Coupled Vibration: An Exploration of Using Embodied Experiences for Hermeneutic Design Nihar Sabnis, Dennis Wittchen, Gabriela Vega, Courtney N Reed, Paul Strohmeier CHI 2023 [URL]
	circat: Purrtentio – A Litter Box that Monitors Feline Urine Using Electrochemical Biosensors Shuyi Sun, Gabriela Vega, Krystle Reagan, Erkin Seker, Katia Vega ACI 2023 [URL]
	PURRtentio: Implementing a Smart Litter Box for Feline Urinalysis with Electrochemical Biosensors Shuyi Sun, Gabriela Vega, Erkin Seker, Krystle Reagan, Katia Vega UIST Adjunct 2023 [URL]
	WOOFlex: A Wearable Device to Aid Canine Flexibility Exercises Shuyi Sun, Gabriela Vega, Denis Marcellin-Little, Katia Vega ACI 2021 [URL]

Grants and Awards

• Second Place, Hackathon, ACM WomENcourage Conference, Romania (2025)
  
• Honorable Mention, Global Dialogues Challenge, The Collective Intelligence Project (2025)
  
• Scholar, Female@Tech Scholarship, Deutsche Telekom (2025)
  
• Young Researcher, 10th Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF) (2023)
  
• Fellowship, Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program (ELAP), Government of Canada (2022)
  Granted CAD$8,000 for research internship
  
• Research Fellowship, REPU Program (Research Experience for Peruvian Undergraduates) (2021)
  
• Undergraduate Scholarship, Ministry of Education, Peru (2020)
  

Academic Service

• Reviewer for CHI 2025 and MuC 2025
  
• Student volunteer for UIST 2021 and 2022, ISMAR 2021, TEI 2022, IUI 2022, DIS 2022, MobileHCI 2022, Ubicomp 2023, CHI 2024 and 2025
  

Leadership and Volunteering

• AI Safety Group at Saarland University – Organizing Team (2025–present)
  
• RobBuild Education – Teaching programming to children using VEXcode VR (2021)
  
• INGENIA – Promoting STEM careers and providing guidance to high school Peruvian girls and early-year female students (2021)
  
• Pan American Games Lima 2019 – Technology Volunteer (2019)
  
• IEEE Communication Society UPC Chapter – Vice President (2017–2022)
  

Old News

• [07/25] I was accepted to attend the ACM WomENcourage Conference and received a travel scholarship.
• [07/25] I attended the IEEE World Haptics Conference and visited HCI labs at KAIST, Seoul National University, and Kyung Hee University.

Miscellany

• I love traveling — I've visited 21 countries and lived in 3: 🇵🇪 🇩🇪 🇨🇦. Some of the places I've explored include: 🇨🇳 🇯🇵 🇰🇷 🇲🇳 🇭🇰 🇧🇷 🇨🇴 🇨🇱 🇺🇾 🇲🇽 🇺🇸 🇱🇺 🇬🇧 🇫🇷 🇧🇪 🇳🇱 🇪🇸 🇨🇭.

• I also like crocheting, swimming and Hello Kitty haha 🧶 🥽