Research
The most up-to-date research details are available on the HARP Lab website: http://harp.ri.cmu.edu/
I contribute to the science of human-robot interaction by studying how humans interact with robots and how robots can be designed to improve these interactions. My research centers on assistive and collaborative human-robot interactions. My long-term research goal is to bridge the gap between human behavior and robot algorithms, so that robots in human environments can work seamlessly with people by leveraging what we know about human psychology.
I focus on developing algorithms that produce robot behavior that is proactive, fluent, and interpretable. My work contributes new models of human mental states (e.g., needs, desires, and preferences) inferred from observable behaviors, as well as new methods for learning from and adapting to people. I also study the effects of robot behavior on people, such as on people’s feelings of agency.
In my multi-disciplinary work, I apply knowledge, tools, and methods from fields such as robotics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, computer perception, and cognitive science. The human-robot interactions I study range across many levels of robot autonomy and are applied to diverse domains, including:
- physical support for activities of daily living
- driving support in (semi-)autonomous vehicles
- social support during conversation
- collaborative tasks like household cleanup
Interesting in doing this kind of research? See this information about working with me.