CMSC 33281 1 (Autumn 2020) Topics in Human Robot Interaction

The field of human-robot interaction (HRI) is a new and growing field of research, seeking to create seamless interactions between people and robots. Applications of HRI research include developing robots to tutor elementary students, assist human workers in manufacturing contexts, provide museum tours, interact with families within their homes, and help care for the elderly. The field of HRI is highly interdisciplinary, incorporating methods and techniques from human-computer interaction, robotics, psychology, artificial intelligence, and other fields. This course exposes students to a broad range of recent and cutting-edge research in HRI. The topics covered in this course include: nonverbal robot behavior, verbal robot behavior, social dynamics, norms & ethics, collaboration & learning, group interactions, applications, and future challenges of HRI. This course is fully online (Zoom) and meets synchronously on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:10am - 10:00am CST. The course meetings will primarily consist of group discussions of HRI research papers. This course is offered as both a seminar and an elective. For students who choose to take the course as an elective, a course project is required. The course has no prerequisites, however backgrounds in robotics or human-computer interaction is encouraged. Programming knowledge is not necessary, however, may be useful for those students completing a course project.