I am a Ph.D. student at Cornell Tech under the supervision of Prof. Wendy Ju. My research focuses on understanding how people interact with emerging technologies. In particular, I am interested in human-robot interaction and the challenges it presents. My approach involves utilizing the Wizard-of-Oz technique for in-the-wild deployments to simulate robots' autonomy and elicit natural interaction behaviors. By leveraging unique interaction data collected through the Wizard-of-Oz technique, I aim to bootstrap robots' social intelligence. Through my research, I aspire to provide valuable guidelines for the design of future technologies that seamlessly integrate into human environments.
Fanjun (Frank) Bu

Ph.D. Student

Computer Science Department
Cornell University, Cornell Tech

Google Scholar
Github

Publications

  1. Bu, F.*, Mandel, I.*, Lee, W. Y., & Ju, W. (2023, March). Trash Barrel Robots in the City. In Companion of the 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (pp. 875-877).
    2. [Paper][Video]
  2. Goedicke, D., Bremers, A. W., Lee, S., Bu, F., Yasuda, H., & Ju, W. (2022, April). XR-OOM: MiXed Reality driving simulation with real cars for research and design. In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-13).
    3. [Paper]
  3. Ondras, J., Anwar, A., Wu, T., Bu, F., Jung, M., Ortiz, J. J., & Bhattacharjee, T. (2022, July). Human-robot commensality: Bite timing prediction for robot-assisted feeding in groups. In 6th Annual Conference on Robot Learning.
    4. [Paper]
  4. Bu, F., & Huang, C. M. (2021). Object permanence through audio-visual representations. IEEE Access, 9, 131574-131582.
    5. [Paper] [Dataset] [Video]
  5. Chatzilygeroudis, K., Fichera, B., Lauzana, I., Bu, F., Yao, K., Khadivar, F., & Billard, A. (2020). Benchmark for bimanual robotic manipulation of semi-deformable objects. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 5(2), 2443-2450.
    6. [Paper]

Teaching Assistantships

  1. [Spring 2023] INFO5755/INFO6755/CS5755/CS675 Mobile Human Robot Interaction Design
    2. TA Award
  2. [Fall 2021] CS4750/CS5750/ECE4770/MAE4760. Foundations of Robotics
    3. TA Award

Press

  1. Staff, "These robotic trash cans were filmed to test human-robotic interactions. Watch what happened," CNN Business, April 12, 2023.
  2. Ayesha Rascoe, "Researchers released robot trash cans in NYC to see how people would react," National Public Radio (NPR), April 16, 2023.
  3. Patricia Waldron, "(Almost) everyone likes a helpful trash robot," Cornell Chronicle, April 19, 2023.
  4. Mike Snider, "Robots in the Big Apple: Robo-trash cans patrolling New York plaza make friends, creep out some," USA TODAY, April 15, 2023.
  5. Evan Ackerman, "Humans (Mostly) Love Trash Robots > Simple robots wander NYC asking for trash and recycling, and it’s adorable," IEEE Spectrum, Mar 10, 2023.
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