I’m an Engineer, Researcher, and an Artist. I work primarily in Computer Graphics, Computer Vision and Novel Human-{Computer, Robot, Human} interaction methods.
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I’m currently an Engineer at Meta Reality Labs, working on Computer Vision for Personal Intelligence.
Previously, I was an Engineer at NVIDIA Research. Up until 2023, I was at NVIDIA Omniverse leading the Omniverse XR Team.
Before that I was the Director of VR at Fake Love.
Before that I was a Virtual Reality Developer at Framestore.
Before that, a Researcher at the NYU Media Research Lab.
Before that, I studied Mathematics and Linguistics at Tel Aviv University, and then Human-Computer Interaction at New York University.
Before that, I was a Director at Channel 10 (now Channel 13), and Co-Hosted a TV Show About the Internet.
My current research interests are Computer Graphics, VR, Whole-Body Interaction, Haptics, Human-Robot Interaction, and Neural Synthetic Imaging.
Publications
2017-now
- GAIA: Generative Animatable Interactive Avatars with Expression-conditioned Gaussians [ACM Open Access][NVIDIA Research] [SIGGRAPH 2025]: Zhengming Yu, Tianye Li, Jingxiang Sun, Omer Shapira, Seonwook Park, Michael Stengel, Matthew Chan, Xin Li, Wenping Wang, Koki Nagano, Shalini De Mello
- Assistive Tele-op: Leveraging Transformers to Collect Robotic Task Demonstrations [arXiv] [NVIDIA Research] [NeurIPS 2021 Workshop on Robot Learning: Self-Supervised and Lifelong Learning] Henry M. Clever, Ankur Handa, Hammad Mazhar, Kevin Parker, Omer Shapira, Qian Wan, Yashraj Narang, Iretiayo Akinola, Maya Cakmak, Dieter Fox
- Structured Domain Randomization: Bridging the Reality Gap by Context-Aware Synthetic Data [arxiv] [ICRA 2019] – Aayush Prakash, Shaad Boochoon, Mark Brophy, David Acuna, Eric Cameracci, Gavriel State, Omer Shapira, Stan Birchfield
- Towards Infinite Virtual Reality Redirected Walking [SIGGRAPH 2018] – Qi Sun, Anjul Patney, Li-Yi Wei, Omer Shapira, Jingwan Lu, Paul Asente, Suwen Zhu, Morgan Mcguire, David Luebke, Arie Kaufman
Fluidic Elastomer Actuators for Haptic Interactions in Virtual Reality. [IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters 2018] Benjamin C. Mac Murray, Bryan N. Peele, Patricia Xu, Josef Spjut, Omer Shapira, David Luebke, Robert F. Shepherd - A Variable Shape and Variable Stiffness Controller for Haptic Virtual Interactions. [IEEE RoboSoft 2018] Benjamin C. Mac Murray, Bryan N. Peele, Patricia Xu, Josef Spjut, Omer Shapira, David Luebke, Robert F. Shepherd
- Stretchable Transducers for Kinesthetic Interactions in Virtual Reality. [SIGGRAPH 2017] Robert Shepherd, Jose Barreiros, Bryan Peele, Omer Shapira, David Luebke, Benjamin Mac Murray, Josef Spjut
2016 and older
- Unreal Engine 4 Game Development Essentials, Packt Publishing 2016 [Technical Reviewer]
- ofBook: The OpenFrameworks Book
Academic Service
- SIGGRAPH I3D Symposium 2026 – General Chair
- CVPR Workshop on Computer Vision for Virtual Reality 2025 – Chair
- SIGGRAPH Unified Jury 2023
Press & Interviews
- Amplified Intelligence Podcast: Human-Robot Interaction
- Interview at the Yale School of Architecture Paprika! Magazine, 2018
- New Yorker, Lights, Camera, Virtual Reality!, 2016
- Hyperallergic, Imagining The Possible Futures of Virtrual Reality, 2016
- ANIMAL, 4D Games, Liberation Technology and a Penis Wall, 2014
- Voices of VR Podcast: Voices of VR #796: Designing for vulnerability 2016 | Voices of VR #623: Human-Robot Interaction 2017
Residencies & Shows
- Art Hack Day NYC 2015 : Deluge, Showing #Drowning
- Prism Breakup, Eyebeam, NYC 2013
- Microsoft Design Expo, Making Data Useful, Redmond 2013
- NYC Media Lab Future Interfaces, NYC 2013
Workshops & Talks
- SIGGRAPH 2022, Vancouver, Realtime Collaboration in Raytraced VR [video] [schedule]
- Sandia National Labs 4th VR Conference 2022: Keynote
- CVPR CV4ARVR 2022: Spatial Computing is going Hyperscale (Keynote)
- XRDC 2019: This Machine Has No Brain, Can It Use Yours? 2018 [video] [schedule]
- DIGILITY: VR As a Debugger for Robots, 2018 [video]
- CIFAR: The Future of Neuroscience and VR: Roundtable, 2019
- VRDC Thinking With Your Body: Fast Iteration for Mixed Reality Design, San Francisco, CA, November 2016 [video]
- Art && Code: WEIRD REALITY, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA, October 2016 [link]: Content in VR (Panel, sadly not recorded) + There’s More to it than Just Shoving Photons in Ur Face – Workshop [video]
- World’s Fair Nano, NYC, August 2016 [video]
- Oculus Launch Pad, Facebook HQ, Menlo Park, CA, May 2016
- Creative Tech Week, May 2016: VR at Fake Love [slides]
- NYU ITP, April 2016 : VR Filmmaking Is Not
- KILLSCREEN Versions 2016 : The Painful Introduction To Virtual Reality [slides]
- NYVR March 2015: Things I Learned Making VR in a VFX Company [slides]
Awards
- Webby, Interactive [2015]
- Art Directors Club, Silver [2015]
- One Show: Silver Pencil [2015], another Silver Pencil [2015] and a Bronze Pencil [2015]
- Hatch: Gold [2015], Gold [2015], Gold [2015]
- London International: Gold, Silver [2015]
- OMMA, Integrated Advertising [2015]
- Mixx Awards, Interactive [2015]
- Microsoft Design Expo: Best Sytstem Design [2013]
- Houston Comedy Film Festival: Best Special Effects [2009]
Patents
I’ll spare you.