Link for Live Seminar

Link for Recorded seminars – 2021/2022 school year

Abstract:

Designing robots for human interaction is a multifaceted challenge involving the robot’s intelligent behavior, physical form, mechanical structure, and interaction schema. Our lab develops and studies human-centered robots using a combination of methods from AI, Design, and Human-Computer Interaction.  This talk focuses on three recent projects, two concerning the design of a new robot, and one that tackles designing robots that help human designers.

Biography:

Guy Hoffman is Associate Professor and the Mills Family Faculty Fellow in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University. Prior to that he was an Assistant Professor at IDC Herzliya and co-director of the IDC Media Innovation Lab. Hoffman holds a Ph.D from MIT in the field of human-robot interaction. He heads the Human-Robot Collaboration and Companionship (HRC²) group, studying the algorithms, interaction schema, and designs enabling close interactions between people and personal robots in the workplace and at home. Among others, Hoffman developed the world’s first human-robot joint theater performance, and the first real-time improvising human-robot Jazz duet. His research papers won several top academic awards, including Best Paper awards at robotics conferences in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. His TEDx talk is one of the most viewed online talks on robotics, watched more than 3 million times.