Robot turns to person entering the conversational group, even though she is not wearing a detectable hat like the other three members of the group.

ATLAS researchers' algorithm helps robots detect everyone in social gatherings

April 6, 2022

Imagine a world where robots flawlessly detect everyone in a conversation group and also greet the newcomers. Described in a paper published in the March proceedings of the prestigious International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI '22), Hooman Hedayati (PhD computer science '20) and Daniel Szafir, assistant professor of computer science at UNC Chapel Hill and former ATLAS faculty member, proposed a method to overcome situations when conversational group (F-formation) detection algorithms fail.

Front cover

RoomShift research: IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications magazine's cover story

Aug. 10, 2021

THING Lab researchers, led by recent PhD graduate, Ryo Suzuki, developed a swarm of shape-changing robots that move furniture around a room, opening up new haptic ideas for virtual reality.

Torin Hopkins beats on a drum next to an avatar also beating on a drum

AR Drum Circle research envisions enjoyable remote jamming experiences despite latency

Jan. 13, 2021

ATLAS researchers and Ericsson Research project collaborators are exploring ways in which remote drumming experiences can be made more enjoyable despite the latency, including drumming with avatars.

https://humanrobotinteraction.org/2021/student-design-competition/

Assistant Professor Dan Szafir to co-chair the ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HR2021)

Dec. 2, 2020

HRI 2021, which will be held virtually March 8-11, is the 16th annual conference for basic and applied human-robot interaction research. Researchers from across the world present their best work to HRI to exchange ideas about the theory, technology, data and science furthering the state-of-the-art in human-robot interaction. The student design competition is open to everyone; the deadline is December 10.

drone with expandable protective cage that deploys based on proximity to solid objects

Pufferfish-inspired robot could improve drone safety

Oct. 20, 2020

Pufferbot is an aerial robot with an expandable protective structure that deploys to encircle the drone and prevent the drone's rotors from coming in contact with obstacles or people.

Person with VR goggles touches a table that has a Roomba with a mechanical scissor lift below.

RoomShift: A room-scale haptic and dynamic environment for VR applications

Sept. 30, 2020

RoomShift is a haptic and dynamic environment that could be used to support a variety of virtual reality (VR) experiences.

Photo of PufferBot

PufferBot: A flying robot with an expandable body

Aug. 24, 2020

TechXplore writes about PufferBot, an actuated, expandable structure that can be used to fabricate shape-changing aerial robots.

2020 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems logo

ATLAS research helps define the future of human-computer interaction

May 1, 2020

At a time when the field of human-computer interaction is becoming more important than ever, ATLAS researchers are making substantial contributions, contributing nine papers and two workshops to CHI '20.

Research subject wearing augmented reality headset working with drone.

Globalive Media's "Beyond Innovation:" IRON Lab research featured on globally broadcast program

May 22, 2019

Research from ATLAS Institute's IRON Lab involving utilizing augmented reality to gain information about a robot's intended path of motion was featured on the globally broadcast program, "Beyond Innovation." The program features the latest business and technology trends.

Fetch, a four-foot-tall robot is shown to attendees of the ATLAS Research Showcase.

A robotic helping hand

Nov. 14, 2018

Research that helps robots understand gestures and the often vague nature of language will pave the way to mechanical beings taking on human tasks, from assembling children's toy castles on Christmas morning to caring for elderly relatives, says Dan Szafir, assistant professor at the ATLAS Institute and director of the IRON lab.

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