I am an Assistant Professor of Robotics and HRI at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and the founding director of the Interactive Robotics and Vision Laboratory.

My primary research focus is on making robots work safely and intuitively with people, so humans and robot can safely coexist and collaborate. This means looking into improving a robot's perception about people, their intentions and/or actions, engaging in dialog, as well as the environment. Perceiving the world robustly, particularly under changing conditions is an open challenge; my research interest naturally extends into multi-modal sensory perception. My past research has been heavily influenced by making robots work with humans in unstructured environments, particularly underwater, and current and future work involves field robots in the air, water and outdoor, all-terrain platforms.