MIT’s Alexander Htet Kyaw: Pioneering Creative AI Solutions Bridging Design and Computer Science

The rapid evolution of technology constantly presents opportunities for innovative applications. At the forefront of this intersection is Alexander Htet Kyaw, an MIT MAD Fellow pursuing dual master’s degrees in architectural studies in computation, and electrical engineering and computer science. Kyaw is creatively merging AI, augmented reality, and robotics to reshape our interactions with the built environment.

Kyaw’s work integrates gesture, speech, and object recognition to develop human-AI workflows. These innovations are poised to transform various sectors, from retail and architectural design to manufacturing.

One of Kyaw’s notable creations is Curator AI, developed in collaboration with MIT graduate students Richa Gupta (architecture), Bradley Bunch, Nidhish Sagar, and Michael Won (all from EECS). Curator AI secured first prize at the MIT AI Conference’s AI Build: Generative Voice AI Solutions hackathon, earning the team $26,000 in OpenAI products and cash.

Curator AI is an innovative platform designed to revolutionize online furniture shopping. By using AR to capture room dimensions and existing furniture layouts, the platform enables users to describe their desired furnishings. The system then employs a vision-language AI model to find and display options that match the user’s specifications and the room’s aesthetics.

“Shoppers can choose from the suggested options, visualize products in AR, and use natural language to ask for modifications to the search, making the furniture selection process more intuitive, efficient, and personalized,” explains Kyaw. He highlights the core problem Curator AI addresses: assisting individuals who are overwhelmed by the complexities of furnishing a room. While initially designed for furniture, the platform’s potential extends to various other markets.

Another project, Estimate, emerged from the MIT Sloan Product Tech Conference’s hackathon in March 2024. Focused on supporting small businesses, Kyaw and his team developed Estimate for a Cambridge-based painting company. This tool uses AR and object recognition to accurately measure rooms and generate detailed cost estimates for renovations and paint jobs. Estimate also utilizes generative AI to visualize potential room transformations and create invoices upon project completion.

Kyaw’s teammates for Estimate were Guillaume Allegre, May Khine, and Anna Mathy, all 2024 graduates from MIT with master’s degrees in business analytics. The team’s success at the hackathon earned them $5,000 in cash.

Looking ahead, Kyaw is scheduled to deliver a TEDx talk at Cornell University, where he will showcase Curator AI, Estimate, and other projects that leverage AI, AR, and robotics in design and construction.

One such project is Unlog, which combines AR with gesture recognition to map building component dimensions using fingertip input on material surfaces. This technology facilitated the creation of Unlog, a striking art sculpture on Cornell’s campus made from ash logs.

Unlog exemplifies a sustainable approach to construction by utilizing whole logs directly, bypassing the conventional milling process. Kyaw’s commitment to sustainable building materials is further underscored by his paper, “Gestural Recognition for Feedback-Based Mixed Reality Fabrication a Case Study of the UnLog Tower,” published in the Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computational Design and Robotic Fabrication.

Kyaw has also developed a system integrating physics simulation, gesture recognition, and AR for designing active bending structures with bamboo poles. This innovative approach, detailed in “Active Bending in Physics-Based Mixed Reality: The Design and Fabrication of a Reconfigurable Modular Bamboo System,” allows users to manipulate digital bamboo modules in AR, visualizing bending and attachment points for structural stability.

Building on this concept, Kyaw founded BendShelters, a startup focused on creating prefabricated, modular bamboo shelters for displaced persons in Myanmar. This initiative has garnered recognition from MIT Sandbox, the PKG Social Innovation Challenge, and the Amazon Robotics’ Prize for Social Good.

“Where I grew up, in Myanmar, I’ve seen a lot of day-to-day effects of climate change and extreme poverty,” Kyaw says, emphasizing his dedication to addressing the refugee crisis in his home country.

Currently, Kyaw collaborates with Professor Neil Gershenfeld and PhD student Miana Smith at MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, developing a workflow that uses speech recognition, 3D generative AI, and robotic arms to create objects sustainably and on-demand. Kyaw, holding bachelor’s degrees in architecture and computer science from Cornell, was also awarded an SJA Fellowship from the Steve Jobs Archive for his projects at the intersection of technology and the arts.

“I enjoy exploring different kinds of technologies to design and make things,” Kyaw concludes. “Being part of MAD has made me think about how all my work connects, and helped clarify my intentions. My research vision is to design and develop systems and products that enable natural interactions between humans, machines, and the world around us.”