# Ivan Poupyrev

> Ivan Poupyrev is a Russian-born interaction designer, engineer, scientist, and founder whose career has moved from virtual-reality interfaces and tactile displays to singing plants, radar gesture sensing, connected clothing, and physical AI. After research roles at Sony Computer Science Laboratories and Walt Disney Imagineering, he led Google ATAP teams behind Soli and Jacquard. He now serves as co-founder and CEO of Archetype AI, where the Newton foundation model is designed to translate streams of sensor data into real-time, natural-language understanding of machines, infrastructure, and physical environments.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Archetype AI
- **Organizations:** Archetype AI, Google ATAP, Walt Disney Imagineering Research, Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, Hiroshima University, University of Washington Human Interface Technology Laboratory
- **Nationality:** Russian
- **Education:** M.S. in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Moscow Airspace University, Ph.D. in Computer Science; thesis: A Study of 3D User Interfaces for Virtual Reality, Hiroshima University
- **Known for:** Won the 2019 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Interaction Design., Named number 15 on Fast Company's 2013 list of the 100 Most Creative People in Business., Led Google ATAP work on Soli radar sensing and Jacquard interactive textiles, technologies later shipped across more than 15 products in 33 countries.

## Career timeline

- **1994** — Left the former Soviet Union as scientific funding declined and continued research between Japan and the United States.
- **1994-1999** — Completed doctoral research in 3D user interfaces at Hiroshima University, collaborating with the Human Interface Technology Laboratory at the University of Washington.
- **c. 1999-2008** — Worked in Tokyo as a research scientist at Sony Computer Science Laboratories for about nine years, exploring tactile and physical interfaces.
- **c. 2009-2013** — Led interaction technology research at Walt Disney Imagineering Research, including projects that made plants, water, and everyday objects interactive.
- **2014** — Joined Google ATAP and began leading interaction technology programs.
- **2015** — Introduced Project Soli and Project Jacquard at Google I/O with teams developing radar gesture sensing and interactive textiles.
- **2019** — Received Cooper Hewitt's National Design Award for Interaction Design and gave a TED talk demonstrating a connected jacket sleeve as an interface.
- **2023** — Left Google ATAP with Brandon Barbello, Leonardo Giusti, Jaime Lien, and Nicholas Gillian to co-found Archetype AI.
- **2024** — Archetype AI launched publicly, announced a $13 million seed round, and introduced Newton, its physical AI foundation model.
- **2025** — Archetype AI raised a $35 million Series A and launched its platform and Agent Toolkit for deploying Physical Agents.

## Achievements

- Won the 2019 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Interaction Design.
- Named number 15 on Fast Company's 2013 list of the 100 Most Creative People in Business.
- Led Google ATAP work on Soli radar sensing and Jacquard interactive textiles, technologies later shipped across more than 15 products in 33 countries.
- Co-authored influential work on 3D user interfaces, including the Go-Go interaction technique and the book 3D User Interfaces: Theory and Practice.
- Received a 2013 Prix Ars Electronica honorary mention for Ishin-Den-Shin.
- Received ACM UIST honorable mentions for research including Papillon and Paper Generators.
- Selected as a 2021 Carnegie Corporation Great Immigrant.
- Co-founded Archetype AI and led it through a $13 million seed round and a $35 million Series A.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — Spoke at the Humanoids Summit in Tokyo about physical superintelligence, spatial AI, and world models, revisiting the throughline from Sony's TouchEngine to Archetype AI's Newton.
- **2026-05** — Published LinkedIn essays arguing that robotics is not simply approaching a ChatGPT moment and outlining the case for adaptive world models.
- **2026-02** — Appeared on DataCamp's DataFramed podcast to discuss physical AI beyond robotics, edge deployment, sensor fusion, and data sovereignty.
- **2025-11** — Announced Archetype AI's $35 million Series A, the Archetype platform, an Agent Toolkit, and prebuilt Physical Agents.

## Links

- Website: http://www.ivanpoupyrev.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-poupyrev
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ipoupyrev
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ipoupyrev
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ipoupyrev
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ipoupyrev

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ivan-poupyrev
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-18