Welcome!
The Human-Centered Robotics Lab, directed by Dr. Hao Zhang, is dedicated to advancing lifelong collaborative autonomy, enabling robots to operate, learn, and adapt over extended periods of time (across days, seasons, and ultimately throughout their operational lifetimes). Our goal is to create robotic systems that collaborate naturally and effectively with humans, work seamlessly with other robots as teammates, and address critical societal challenges where intelligent automation can serve as a transformative solution.
Our research sits at the intersection of robotics and artificial intelligence. We focus on robot adaptation and multi-robot and human-robot teaming in dynamic, unstructured, novel, and potentially adversarial environments. By developing innovative algorithms, principled approaches, and robust software architectures with provable properties, we lay the computational foundations for lifelong collaborative autonomy.
We pursue both fundamental and applied research, translating new theoretical insights into real-world robotic systems. Our work is validated on physical platforms and deployed in application domains such as advanced manufacturing, homeland defense, connected and autonomous driving, robot-assisted inspection, environmental exploration, and the Internet of Robotic Things (IoRT). Through rigorous algorithmic design and system-level innovation, we aim to deliver robotics solutions that address pressing environmental, social, and economic challenges, contributing to national health, safety, education, productivity, and long-term economic resilience.
We are always seeking highly self-motivated students with a strong interest in robotics and artificial intelligence. If you are excited about our research and would like to join the Human-Centered Robotics Lab, please email Dr. Zhang with your CV, transcripts, and publications.