SELECTED RESEARCH PROJECTS

STANFORD - Collaboration With Robotic Drawers (2014)

This project focused on improving the engagement with interactive furniture and appliances, particularly through gestures and other forms of non-verbal communication.

​In this study, we examined how participants (N=20) interacted and collaborated with a set of robotic drawers to accomplish an assembly task. The drawers’ behavior varied along two dimensions – proactivity and expressivity of motions. The results of our study indicate that participants consider an expressive robot to be more involved and interested in the interaction. We also found that while proactive or expressive robots could dominate the interaction, proactivity might negatively affect the participants’ perception of their social status relative to that of the robot’s, while expressiveness did not. This shows the importance of utilizing expressive movements when designing socially appropriate robots that need to collaborate with human users. 

The robotic drawers was designed / built by Brian Mok in 2014. ​The study was also designed by Brian Mok in 2014.

​HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION PUBLICATIONS

​Conference Papers and Presentations
  • Jamy Li, Andrea Cuadra, Brian Mok, Byron Reeves, Jofish Kaye, Wendy Ju. Communicating dominance in a nonanthropomorphic robot using locomotion​. ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction (THRI). March 9, 2019
  • Brian Mok, Stephen Yang, David Sirkin, and Wendy Ju. A Place for Every Tool and Every Tool in Its Place: Performing Collaborative Tasks with Interactive Robotic Drawers. In 24th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2015). August 31 - September 3, 2015. Kobe, Japan.​
  • Stephen Yang, Brian Mok, David Sirkin, Hillary Ive, Rohan Maheshwari, Kerstin Fischer, Wendy Ju. Experiences Developing Socially Acceptable Interactions for a Robotic Trash Barrel.  In 24th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2015). August 31 - September 3, 2015. Kobe, Japan.
  • Brian Mok, Stephen Yang, David Sirkin, Wendy Ju. Every Tool in Its Place: Interaction and Collaboration with Robotic Drawers. In Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI 2015) Spring Symposium on Turn-taking and Coordination in Human Machine Interaction. March 23 - 25, 2015. Palo Alto, California, USA.
  • Kerstin Fischer, Stephen Yang, Brian Mok, Rohan Maheshwari, David Sirkin, Wendy Ju. Initiating Interactions and Negotiating Approach: A Robotic Trash Can in the Field.  In Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI 2015) Spring Symposium on Turn-taking and Coordination in Human Machine Interaction. March 23 - 25, 2015. Palo Alto, California, USA.
  • David Sirkin, Brian Mok, Stephen Yang, Wendy Ju. Mechanical Ottoman: How Robotic Furniture Offers and Withdraws Support. In 10th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2015). March 2 - 5, 2015. Portland, Oregon, USA.
 Workshop, Poster, Video, and Demonstration Papers
  • Brian Mok. Effects of Proactivity and Expressivity on Collaboration with Interactive Robotic Drawers. In 11th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2016). March 7-10, 2016. Christchurch, New Zealand. (Workshop Paper)
  • David Sirkin, Nik Martelaro, Hamish Tennent, Mishel Johns, Brian Mok, Wendy Ju, Guy Hoffman, Heather Knight, Bilge Mutlu, Leila Takayama. Design Skills for HRI. In 11th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2016). March 7 - 10, 2016. Christchurch, New Zealand. (Workshop Proposal)
  • David Sirkin, Brian Mok, Stephen Yang, Wendy Ju. Oh, I Love Trash: Personality of a Robotic Trash Barrel. In 19th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing Companion (CSCW 2016). February 27 - March 2, 2015. San Francisco, California, USA. (Demonstration)
  • Brian Mok, Stephen Yang, David Sirkin, Wendy Ju. Collaboration with Robotic Drawers. In 10th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2015). March 2 - 5, 2015, Portland, Oregon, USA. (Video)
  • David Sirkin, Brian Mok, Stephen Yang, Wendy Ju. Mechanical Ottoman: Engaging and Taking Leave. In 10th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2015). March 2 - 5, 2015, Portland, Oregon, USA. (Video)
  • David Sirkin, Brian Mok, Stephen Yang, Wendy Ju. Mechanical Ottoman: Up Close and Personal.  In 10th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2015). March 2 - 5, 2015. Portland, Oregon, USA. (Best Demonstration Award)
  • Brian Mok, Stephen Yang, David Sirkin, Wendy Ju. Performing Collaborative Tasks with Robotic Drawers. In 10th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2015). March 2 - 5, 2015. Portland, Oregon, USA. (Demonstration)
  • Stephen Yang, Brian Mok, David Sirkin, Wendy Ju. Adventures of an Adolescent Trash Barrel.  The 10th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2015). March 2 - 5, 2015. Portland, Oregon, USA. (Demonstration)
  • Brian Mok, Stephen Yang, David Sirkin, Wendy Ju. Empathy: Interactions with Emotive Robotic Drawers. In 9th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2014). Late Breaking Report. March 3 - 6, 2014. Bielefeld University, Germany. (Poster)