Socio-Physical Human-Robot Interactions: From Disney (Princesses) to Queen's (University)

Abstract:
Robots are steadily moving out of fenced industrial cells and into spaces where people live, work, and play. In these settings, contact is no longer a failure mode to be avoided; it is often the point of the interaction. A handover, a guiding touch, or a well-timed glance carries meaning that task performance alone cannot capture. Designing robots that engage people in these ways, safely and believably, remains an open challenge spanning control, perception, and human factors.

In this (informal) talk, I will trace a line of research that began in the design of expressive, interactive robotic characters for entertainment at Disney and has since grown into a broader program on physical and social human-robot interaction. I will discuss what building robots for audiences taught me about the subtleties of human expectation, and how those lessons now inform work in my laboratory at Queen's University on haptic interaction in virtual and mixed reality, reactive motion planning for robots operating near people, and systems that blur the boundary between physical and virtual contact.

Bio:
Matthew Pan is a faculty member of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Queen’s University and a core member of the Ingenuity Labs Research Institute. His research areas include human-robot interaction, haptics, virtual/augmented reality and human augmentative technologies. At Queen’s, he leads the Machine Intelligence and Human-Robot Interaction Laboratory (MItHRIL).

Previously, Dr. Pan was at Disney Research Los Angeles, where he worked on animatronic technologies and guest-facing interactive experiences designed for Walt Disney Imagineering and Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products. There, he led projects involving social and physical human-robot interaction as well as mixed reality technologies.

Dr. Pan obtained his MASc and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He received his BASc in Mechatronics Engineering from the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Canada.  His prior research areas include the study of haptic displays, affective and psychophysiological computing, assistive robotics, and human-computer interaction.