CISE Seminar: Huajing Zhao, University of Tulsa

Towards Multimodal, Human-Centered, and Trustworthy Robotics

For robots to reliably assist with activities of daily living, it is important that they leverage multisensory feedback, enable contact-rich manipulations, and behave in ways that people perceive as safe and trustworthy. My research develops human-in-the-loop frameworks that integrate multimodal perception with learning-based control to enable adaptive and trustworthy interactions. In this talk, I will present work on robotic manipulation benchmarking methods that integrates modular components into interchangeable pipelines, as well as robotic assistive frameworks designed for human-centered tasks, such as tactile-driven garment button fastening. These systems address key challenges in assistive manipulation, including enabling robots to use everyday tools, operate safely near the human body, manipulate deformable objects, and assist individuals who may be hesitant to trust automation. I will also outline future directions for incorporating trust-building mechanisms to improve the safety and acceptance of human-robot collaboration.

Dr. Huajing Zhao is an incoming Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering department at University of Tulsa. Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher in the NERVE Center at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, working with Professor Holly Yanco. She received her Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from UCLA under the supervision of Professor Veronica Santos. She earned her B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology, an M.Eng. from UC Berkeley, and an M.S. in Robotics from the UMich Ann Arbor. Her research focuses on benchmarking modular robotic manipulation pipelines, advancing assistive robotics through multimodal sensing, contact modeling, and reinforcement learning, and developing human-robot interaction frameworks to investigate user trust in robot-assisted tasks performed near the human body.

Faculty Host: Andrew Sebelhaus

Student Host: Jiatong Guo