Do We Need Social Robots? Towards Impactful and Long-term Interaction in Social Robotics and Personalized Healthcare/Medical Systems

Do We Need Social Robots? Towards Impactful and Long-term Interaction in Social Robotics and Personalized Healthcare/Medical Systems

Abstract: The exponential growth of research efforts in robotics and human-robot interaction (HRI) has unveiled an increasing number of collaborative fields. One of the highly impactful areas that has shown a steep increase of interests and collaboration is the healthcare and medical domain, which has welcomed the technological advancement in assistive robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Assistive robotics is an expanding field of research that holds many potentials for impacting human health and quality of life, along with the advancement of AI/ML. In this presentation, I will discuss my research activities focused on four main themes related to assistive robotics and AI/ML: (1) My vision for socially assistive robots and initial approaches of SARs as embodied agents with multi-modal perception and interactions will be shared; (2) We will then delve into the realm of robotic learning, specifically targeting interactive learning and socio-emotional interactions for autistic individua; (3) I will examine contextual and mutual learning for personalized interaction, with the ultimate goal of facilitating clinical outcomes and long-term human-robot interaction; and (4) Our latest findings and new approaches will be shared, with several directions addressing AI/ML aided healthcare and telemedicine applications.  Along with my research endeavors, I will also impart the experiences and knowledge gained from cross-disciplinary studies and translational research, aimed at advancing assistive robotics for healthcare and personalized interventions.

Bio: Dr. Chung Hyuk Park is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science at the George Washington University. Dr. Park directs the Assistive Robotics and Tele-Medicine (ART-Med) Lab and is affiliated with Department of Computer Science and the GW Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute (ANDI). His current research interests are: 1) Multimodal human-robot interaction and robotic assistance for individuals with disabilities or special needs, 2) Robotic learning and humanized intelligence, and 3) Tele-medical robotic assistance and AI-based reasoning for medical perception and decision-making. He is a recipient of an NSF CAREER grant and carried out a National Robotics Initiative (NRI) NIH R01 project as the lead-PI, among other projects. His work was introduced in diverse media and events such as Voice of America, Robot Trends, USA Today, Arirang TV, and TEDx Pearl Street. He received his PhD degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology (2012) and MS degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and BS degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Seoul National University (2002, 2000, respectively).