Human-Robot Interaction
This pillar brings the human dimension into robotics by studying how robots can collaborate, assist, communicate, and adapt to human needs in socially relevant contexts. My work in human-robot interaction is grounded in the view that robots should be developed as complete systems, where technical performance is evaluated alongside usability, safety, transparency, and social fit. I am especially interested in applications in which robots support people in industrial, assistive, and interactive settings, and in which academic-industrial partnerships can turn research into meaningful solutions.
A major challenge is designing robots that are not only capable but also understandable, adaptable, and comfortable for people to work with over time. Current directions include personalization, multimodal interaction, telepresence, collaboration, and behavior that remains stable yet responsive to human feedback and context. I am particularly interested in how human-robot interaction can inform system design from the outset, so that autonomy, safety, and transparency are built into the robot rather than added later as separate layers.
