OFAI is proud to present "Designing Human–Robot Interaction", a talk by Prof. James E. Young, BSc, PhD of the University of Manitoba. The talk is part of OFAI's 2024 Spring Lecture Series.
Talk abstract: How should we interact with a robot? How can we give it commands? Get information from it? Robots' real world, often collocated and autonomous presence, provides a range of new and exciting opportunities for re-envisioning interaction with technology. In this talk, Dr. Young will present his team's work on exploring novel interaction with robots through a range of projects over the last 12 years. A key focus of this work is aiming to solve HRI problems through novel interaction design rather than technological advances, re-conceptualizing problems to make them simpler. Further, Dr. Young's team explores the limits of robots' abilities to use emotion and human social interaction techniques, for example, to deceive and manipulate people. Finally. Dr. Young will introduce his lab's current projects on re-designing domestic companion robot interactions with a focus on simplicity and deployability.
Speaker biography: Jim Young is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Manitoba, where he founded the Human-Robot Interaction lab in 2011, and co-directs the Human-Computer Interaction Lab. Jim received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Calgary in 2010, following a BSc in Computer Science from Vancouver Island University in 2005. Jim's work broadly takes a human-centric focus and draws heavily from sociology and psychology, focusing on studying social interactions between people and robots and inventing new ways for people to work with them. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief for the ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction Journal, Steering Committee co-chair for the ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), and is on the steering committee for the ACM International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction (ACM HAI). He previously served as Program co-chair for the ACM/IEEE HRI 2017 and General co-chair for ACM/IEEE HRI 2020, as well as in many editorial roles including Senior Associate Editor for the ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction journal, PC member and sub-theme chair for the ACM/IEEE HRI conference, and Associate Editor for the Frontiers In Robotics and AI (Human-Robot Interaction) journal. The HRI Lab's work has been recognized by best paper awards at various ACM Conferences.
