Pavel Manakhov
About Me
I’m a postdoctoral researcher in the GEMINI group at Lancaster University focusing on Extended Reality (XR) interaction on the go. With new technologies, such as compact, all-day wearable Augmented Reality (AR) glasses coming into our everyday lives, interaction with virtual information during locomotion will eventually become commonplace, similar to how we use our smartphones while walking. For interaction during mobility in XR to be practical, users must be able to (a) clearly perceive virtual information, (b) be able to easily interact with it, and (c) maintain awareness of their surroundings for safety. These challenges map onto three research topics I focus on: gaze stabilization, attention distribution, and efficient interaction during physical locomotion.
Before becoming a postdoc, I spent 10 years in industry working as Lead UX/Interaction Designer in both agency and product-team settings, and led HCI education as a teaching-track Associate Professor at HSE University. I hold a doctorate in Computer Science from Aarhus University, where I was advised by Prof. Hans Gellersen and A/Prof. Ken Pfeuffer.
Research
Gaze Stabilization On the Move
Efficient interaction implies that any visual information displayed via XR glasses — be it virtual augmentations co-located with physical objects or interfaces accompanying walking users — should be easily perceived. However, locomotion makes it challenging to stabilise gaze on the image displayed in XR glasses. I study underlying gaze stabilization mechanisms active during locomotion to inform presentation of visual information that ensures legibility.
Gaze on the Go: Effect of Spatial Reference Frame on Visual Target Acquisition During Physical Locomotion in Extended Reality
https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642915Attention Distribution On the Go
AR introduces a fundamentally different perceptual context in which virtual information can coexist with, occlude, or alter the appearance of physical objects. During locomotion, this presents challenges for visual attention: mechanisms that normally support awareness of the environment may interact with virtual information in ways that remain poorly understood. I’m interested in how underlying mechanisms such as pre-attentive processing are affected by these blended virtual-physical environments and how directing gaze towards virtual information changes the visual flow available for monitoring the physical world.
Better Situational Awareness in AR-HRC? A Comparative Study of Augmented Reality and Mobile Interfaces for Human-Robot Collaboration
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2609.01461Efficient Interaction during Locomotion
Users might want to interact with virtual information without stopping, for example, requesting more information about a restaurant across the street by pointing at it or selecting the next podcast to listen to by touching an XR user interface. Regardless of the input modality — be it hands, head, or gaze — pointing and selection accuracy degrades on the go, because movement involves oscillations of all body parts. I use fundamental knowledge of body kinematics and natural compensatory body and eye movements to inform design of interaction techniques suitable for such on-the-go contexts.
Filtering on the Go: Effect of Filters on Gaze Pointing Accuracy During Physical Locomotion in Extended Reality
https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2024.3456153Recent Publications
Better Situational Awareness in AR-HRC? A Comparative Study of Augmented Reality and Mobile Interfaces for Human-Robot Collaboration
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2609.01461MagicPitch: 3D Object Manipulation with Gaze, Pinch, and Head Pitch
https://doi.org/10.1109/ISMAR70079.2026.00016Tracing Across Modalities: Investigating Alternative Interaction Techniques for Gesture Typing in Extended Reality
https://doi.org/10.1109/ISMAR-Adjunct73196.2026.00049AR Widgets: Exploring Placement Strategies for Persistent Widgets for Augmented Reality
https://doi.org/10.1145/3821712Aligner, Nodder, and Winker: Creating Complete, Hands-Free Interaction Techniques that Unify Precise, UI-Independent Selection and Dragging
https://doi.org/10.1145/3806030UI Placement as a Critical Design Factor for Augmented Reality During Locomotion
https://hci.plus/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/UI-Placement-as-a-Critical-Design-Factor-for-Augmented-Reality.pdf3D UI Placement for Interaction on the Go
https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/publications/3d-ui-placement-for-interaction-on-the-go/On-body Icons: Designing a 3D Interface for Launching Apps in Augmented Reality
https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713954Filtering on the Go: Effect of Filters on Gaze Pointing Accuracy During Physical Locomotion in Extended Reality
https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2024.3456153Gaze on the Go: Effect of Spatial Reference Frame on Visual Target Acquisition During Physical Locomotion in Extended Reality
https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642915PalmGazer: Unimanual Eye-hand Menus in Augmented Reality
https://doi.org/10.1145/3607822.3614523A Fitts’ Law Study of Gaze-Hand Alignment for Selection in 3D User Interfaces
https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3581423Please see my CV for the full list of publications.