Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) studies how people perceive, understand and behave around robots, and how robots can be designed to communicate, collaborate and earn the trust of their human users. As robots move from factories into homes, hospitals, offices and public spaces, understanding the human side of the interaction becomes central to safe, effective and socially acceptable deployment.
This project explores factors that shape human-robot interaction, including users' trust and acceptance of robots, the design of verbal and non-verbal robot behaviors (gaze, gestures, speech and proxemics), and the role of a robot's appearance and autonomy level in shaping expectations. Through user studies, controlled experiments and field deployments, we examine how interaction design affects engagement, perceived safety, workload and long-term acceptance, and we derive design principles for social and collaborative robots that adapt to human needs.
- Student PI(s): Xiang CHANG, Jinghao HUANG & Hongling SHENG
- Project date: Jan 1, 2026 - now