People

Faculty

Maya Cakmak

Professor
CSE

Research Interests: Assistive Robotics, Human-Robot Interaction

PhD: Georgia Institute of Technology

Master's & Bachelor's: Middle East Technical University

Postdocs and Visitors

Tamanna Motahar

Postdoc
CSE

Research Interests: Assistive Robotics

PhD: University of Utah

Master's: University of Alberta

Bachelor's: American International University- Bangladesh

Graduate Students

Michael Murray

PhD Student
Started in 2019
CSE

Research Interests: Robotics, Computer Vision, NLP, Multimodal Robot Interaction

Master's: University of Washington

Bachelor's: Neumont College of Computer Science

Daphne Chen

PhD Student
Started in 2023
CSE

Research Interests: Robot Learning, Preference Learning

Master's: Carnegie Mellon University

Bachelor's: Georgia Institute of Technology

Claire Yang

PhD Student
Started in 2024
CSE

Research Interests: Human-Robot Interaction, Computational Cognitive Science, Artificial Intelligence

Bachelor's: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Undergraduate and Master's Students

Brian Yao

BSc Student
Started in 2021
CSE

Research Interests: Assistive Robotics

Alumni

Nick Walker

PhD Student
2018 - 2025
CSE

Research Interests: Human-Robot Interaction, Transparency, Service Robots

PhD & Master's: University of Washington

Bachelor's: UT Austin

Joe Sluis

BSc Student
2021 - 2025
CSE

Research Interests: Assistive Robotics

Bachelor's: University of Washington

Amal Nanavati

PhD Student
2019 - 2025
CSE

Research Interests: Human-Robot Interaction, Robot Learning, Assistive Technologies

PhD & Master's: University of Washington

Bachelor's: Carnegie Mellon University

Varad Dhat

MS Student
2023 - 2025
ME

Research Interests: Human-Robot-Interraction, Computer Vision, Assistive Robotics

Master's: University of Washington

Bachelor's: Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune, India

Vinitha Ranganeni

PhD Student
2018 - 2024
CSE

Research Interests: Assistive Robotics, Motion Planning, Human-Robot Interaction

PhD & Master's: University of Washington

Bachelor's: Carnegie Mellon University

Now: Hello Robot

Noah Ponto

MS Student
2022 - 2023
CSE

Research Interests: Assistive Robotics

Master's & Bachelor's: University of Washington

Leah Perlmutter

PhD Student
2016 - 2023
CSE

Research Interests: Computer Science Education, Accessibility

PhD & Master's: University of Washington

Bachelor's: Colby College

Now: Grinnell College

Raida Karim

Undergraduate Student
2020 - 2022
CSE

Research Interests: Social Robotics, Mental Health

Bachelor's: University of Washington

Patrícia Alves-Oliveira

Postdoc
2020 - 2022
CSE

Research Interests: Human-Robot Interaction, Design Research, Creativity, Mental Health

PhD: ISCTE-IUL, INESC-ID, and Cornell University

Master's: University of Aveiro

Bachelor's: Higher Institute of Applied Psychology (ISPA)

Now: University of Michigan

Michael Jae-Yoon Chung

PhD Student
2013 - 2020
CSE

Research Interests: Human-Robot Interaction, End-User Programming

PhD & Master's: University of Washington

Maru Cabrera

Postdoc
2018 - 2020
CSE

Research Interests: Robotics, Human-Robot Interaction, Embodiment, Multimodal Interaction

PhD: Purdue University

Master's & Bachelor's: Simon Bolivar University (Venezuela)

Now: UMass Lowell

Paola Ardon

Visiting PhD Student
2020
CSE

Research Interests: Manipulation, Assistive Robotics

Master's: Edinburgh Centre for Robotics

Bachelor's: John Brown University

Mattia Racca

Visiting PhD Student
2019
CSE

Research Interests: Robot learning from humans, interactive learning, human robot interaction

Master's: Aalto University

Bachelor's: Politecnico di Torino

Now: Naver Labs

Sai Harshita Neti

BSc Student
2017 - 2019
CSE

Research Interests: Human-Robot Interaction, End-User Programming

Bachelor's: University of Washington

Alisa Kalegina

PhD Student
2017 - 2019
CSE

Research Interests: Human-Robot Interaction, Roboethics

Bachelor's: New York City College of Technology and Stony Brook University

Heather Harvey

BSc Student
2017 - 2019
CSE

Research Interests: Human-Robot Interaction, Service Robots, End-User Programming

Thomas Weng

Visiting Researcher
2017 - 2018
CSE

Research Interests: Human-Robot Interaction

Bachelor's: Yale University

Now: CMU

Yu-Tang Peng

MS Student
2017 - 2018
CSE

Research Interests: Robotic perception

Master's & Bachelor's: University of Washington

Justin Huang

PhD Student
2014 - 2018
CSE

Research Interests: End-User Programming, Computer Vision, Mobile Manipulation

PhD & Master's: University of Washington

Bachelor's: University of California, San Diego

Now: JPL

Tim Adamson

BSc Student
2017 - 2018
CSE

Research Interests: Human-Robot Interaction, Teleoperation, Assistive Robotics

Bachelor's: University of Washington

Abhijit Makhal

Visiting Researcher
2017
CSE

Research Interests: Human-Robot Interaction, Robotic Grasping, Motion Planning

Master's: IIT-Allahabad

Bachelor's: University of Washington

Sarah Elliot

PhD Student
2014 - 2017
CSE

Research Interests: Human-Robot Interaction, Programming by Demonstration, Service & Personal Robotics, Robotic Tool Use

Master's: University of Washington

Bachelor's: University of Waterloo

Now: Fetch Robotics

Vivek Paramasivam

MS Student
2015 - 2016
CSE

Research Interests: Computer Science Outreach, Robotics

Master's & Bachelor's: University of Washington

Dan Butler

PhD Student
2011 - 2016
CSE

Research Interests: Robotics, Computer Vision, Teleoperation

Master's: University of Washington

Bachelor's: Brown University

Jimmy Baraglia

Visiting Researcher
2015
CSE

Research Interests: Robotics, Human-Robot Interaction

Master's & Bachelor's: Toulouse University

Sonya Alexandrova

PhD Student
2013 - 2015
CSE

Research Interests: Programming by Demonstration, End-User Programming, Human-Robot Interaction

Master's & Bachelor's: St. Petersburg Academic University

Yasaman Sefidgar

PhD Student

CSE

Research Interests: Human-Computer Interaction, Interactive Machine Learning

Master's: University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University

Bachelor's: Sharif University of Technology

Robots

Astro

Fetch

Maker: Fetch Robotics

Active Since: October 2016

Baxter

Baxter Research Robot

Maker: Rethink Robotics

Active Since: September 2013

Beamer

Beam+

Maker: Suitable Technologies

Active Since: March 2015

DubDash

Dot Dash

Maker: Wonder Workshop

Active Since: January 2015

Forky

Stretch

Maker: Hello Robot

Active Since: June 2020

Kubi Washington

Kubi Hacker's Edition

Maker: Revolve Robotics

Active Since: November 2013

Misty

Misty I

Maker: Misty Robotics

Active Since: August 2018

Panang

Kuri

Maker: Mayfield Robotics

Active Since: October 2018

Panda

Maker: Franka Emika

Active Since: September 2018

Rosie

Personal Robot 2 (PR2)

Maker: Willow Garage

Active Since: September 2013

Snoopy

Kuri

Maker: Mayfield Robotics

Active Since: October 2018