Zhixing Chen

Artist, designer, engineer, musician.

Creative

I am an artist, designer, engineer, and musician, working across live performance, human-computer interaction, AI, dance, and production workflows. My MIT thesis explored how generative AI can support new forms of social interaction through music and dance. Now I'm building Stage Intelligence, AI for live event planning and operations.

In my free time, I enjoy dancing, singing, songwriting, surfing, scuba diving, snowboarding, and traveling.

Education

2026
MS, Music Technology and Computation
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, May 2026. Inaugural class. Thesis: Generative Music as a Catalyst for Social Choreography, supervised by Cheng-Zhi Anna Huang.
2025
BS, Mechanical Engineering and Music
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, May 2025. Final semester on exchange at ETH Zürich, spring 2025, through MISTI.

Experience

2026
Founder, Stage Intelligence
Since July 2026. AI tools for the people who run live production.
2025–26
Human-AI Interaction Researcher, MIT CSAIL
Human AI Resonance group, July 2025 to June 2026.
2025
Visiting researcher, Global Health Engineering Lab, ETH Zürich
February to May 2025. Under Prof. Elizabeth Tilley, supervised by Dr. Jakub Tkaczuk.
2024
Soft Robotics Intern, Bristol Robotics Laboratory
Bristol, UK, June to August 2024. Supervised by Dr. Chris Ford, co-supervised by Prof. Nathan Lepora and Dr. Efi Psomopoulou.
2023–24
Swappable Battery Researcher, MIT Precision Engineering Research Group
September 2023 to June 2024. Batteries and solar charging for off-road ambulances.
2023
Engineering and Business Development Intern, Moving Health
Accra, Ghana, June to August 2023. Driver's compartment for off-road tricycle ambulances.
2023
Design-thinker for Development, MIT D-Lab
February to May 2023. Bicycle trailer with passive cooling for farmers in South Africa.
2022–24
Traveling Instructor, Smilegate
South Korea, October 2022 to February 2024.
2022–24
President, MIT Movementality
September 2022 to September 2024.
2022–24
Engineering and Design Mentor, MIT Edgerton Center
September 2022 to September 2024.

Publications

2026
Con Moto: Embodied Steering of Music Transformers for Live Dance Improvisation
Zhixing Chen, Heidi Lei, Cheng-Zhi Anna Huang. NIME 2026, London. Project
2026
SoftHand Model-W: A 3D-Printed, Anthropomorphic, Underactuated Robot Hand with Integrated Wrist and Carpal Tunnel
Dhillon B. Merritt, Christopher J. Ford, Haoran Li, Malia Smith, Zhixing Chen, Efi Psomopoulou, Nathan F. Lepora. ICRA 2026, Vienna. Project
2025
Be the Beat: AI-Powered Boombox for Music Suggestion from Freestyle Dance
Ethan Chang, Zhixing Chen, Jb Labrune, Marcelo Coelho. TEI 2025, Work in Progress. Project
2024
Be the Beat: AI-Powered Boombox for Music Generation from Freestyle Dance
Zhixing Chen, Ethan Chang. NeurIPS 2024 Creative AI Track. Project

Under review

2026
Encypher
Paper under review.

Exhibitions and performances

2026
Encypher
MIT Music Technology Research Showcase, Thomas Tull Concert Hall, MIT, 13 May 2026.
2026
Encypher, as We the Beat
Design Redefined, MIT Museum, 30 April 2026.
2025
unscored, on Con Moto
With Abena Kyereme-Tuah. Harvard Hydra concert, Paine Hall, Harvard, 12 December 2025.
2025
Be the Beat
Gwangju Design Biennale, South Korea, 2025.
2023
Abyss Vivace
ProjXpo, MIT, spring 2023.

Awards and grants

2026
MISTI Ambassador Award
MIT Student Awards Convocation.
2025–26
Quanta Computer Graduate Fellowship
2025
MIT Arts Startup Incubator finalist
Be the Beat, with Ethan Chang. Finals, April 2025.
2025
MIT DesignX cohort
BioBoost. Project
2025
PKG IDEAS award, $2,000
BioBoost. Project
2024
Ma-Sha Prize, MIT 2.007 Robot Competition
Whaley the Robot.
2023
MIT ProjX grant, $500
Abyss Vivace.

Certifications

2025
PADI Open Water, Advanced Open Water and Enriched Air Nitrox Diver

Stage

Dance, the instruments I build for dancers, and the shows I have run are on the Performances page.

Contact

Send inquiries to email. Please don't call me.

Zhixing Chen[email protected]