Academic Journey: From Georgia Tech to MIT Media Lab

Hae Won Park's path in human-robot interaction began with a strong foundation in robotics and intelligent systems. She earned her PhD from the Georgia Institute of Technology's Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines, where she was part of the Human-Automation Systems Lab under Professor Ayanna Howard. During her doctoral studies, Park delved into multimodal interfaces, machine learning applications for assistive technologies, and early explorations of how robots could interact meaningfully with humans, particularly children with special needs. This period was pivotal, as she co-founded Zyrobotics, a startup that licensed three patents stemming from her research, bridging academia and practical innovation.

Transitioning to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, Park joined the renowned Personal Robots Group as a Research Scientist. Here, she advanced to Principal Investigator for the Social Robot Companions for Aging Program, overseeing projects that integrate long-term personalization into interactive AI systems. Her work at MIT emphasizes deploying robots in real-world settings within universities and communities, influencing how higher education institutions approach interdisciplinary robotics research.

Core Research Focus: Personalization in Human-Robot Interaction

At the heart of Hae Won Park's expertise lies the personalization of social robots over extended interactions. Human-robot interaction, often abbreviated as HRI, refers to the study of how humans and robots communicate, collaborate, and coexist effectively. Park's approach involves computational models that infer users' mental states from verbal and nonverbal cues, such as speech patterns, facial expressions, and gestures. Using techniques like reinforcement learning—where robots learn optimal behaviors through trial and feedback despite sparse data—she enables robots to adapt uniquely to individual users.

This methodology addresses key challenges in HRI: traditional robots often fail in long-term scenarios because they lack adaptability. Park employs transfer learning, allowing knowledge from one interaction to inform others, and leverages collective data from networked intelligent devices. Her research has profound implications for higher education, where universities are increasingly incorporating HRI into computer science, engineering, and psychology curricula to prepare students for AI-driven futures.

Transforming Early Childhood Education Through Robotics

One of Park's flagship contributions is in early childhood education, where social robots serve as peer companions. The Tega robot platform, developed collaboratively with Cynthia Breazeal, supports in-home interactions to boost early literacy. Tega engages children in playful reading sessions, using expressive animations and voice modulation to encourage active participation. Studies showed that children with Tega improved storytelling skills significantly compared to traditional methods.

Projects like the Personalized Robot Storytelling Companion further exemplify this. Robots exchange stories with children, adapting narratives based on the child's linguistic level and emotional responses. Another initiative, Robot Mindset and Curiosity, instills growth mindsets in young learners by modeling pro-curious behaviors. These efforts, tested in university-affiliated preschools and labs, provide higher education researchers with frameworks for AI education tools. PopBots, a curriculum introducing artificial intelligence concepts to young children, has garnered over 380 citations, influencing edtech programs globally.

• Enhanced linguistic skills through reciprocal storytelling.
• Fostering curiosity via robot-led activities.
• Integration of AI literacy in early curricula.

Innovations in Eldercare and Emotional Wellness

Park's Social Robot Companions for Aging Program tackles the global aging crisis, projected to see 2 billion people over 60 by 2050. Robots designed for older adults promote social connectivity, detect emotional states in real-time via voice analysis, and facilitate family interactions. The Designing Social Robots for Older Adults project explores demographic shifts, creating companions that reduce isolation through empathetic responses.

In higher education, these initiatives train interdisciplinary teams—combining robotics engineers, psychologists, and gerontologists. Park's realtime detection of social cues in children's voices extends to adults, enabling nuanced HRI. A 2025 study in Science Robotics on social robots as conversational catalysts highlights long-term engagement strategies, co-authored by Park, advancing university research in healthcare robotics.

Key Publications Shaping HRI Scholarship

Park's scholarly output is prolific, with thousands of citations on Google Scholar. Top works include "PopBots: Designing an Artificial Intelligence Curriculum for Early Childhood Education" (2019, 384 citations), which outlines hands-on AI activities reshaping primary education. "Teaching and Learning with Children: Impact of Reciprocal Peer Learning with a Social Robot" (2020, 342 citations) demonstrates measurable gains in engagement and knowledge retention.

Recent publications like "MDagents: An Adaptive Collaboration of LLMs for Medical Decision-Making" (2024) and "Health-LLM: Large Language Models for Health Prediction via Wearable Sensor Data" (2024) pivot to health applications, influencing biomedical engineering programs. These papers, often published in ACM/IEEE HRI conferences, provide higher ed faculty with replicable methodologies.Explore her full publication list.

Collaborations and Mentorship in Academia

Park collaborates extensively with luminaries like Cynthia Breazeal, fostering mentorship ecosystems at MIT. She works closely with graduate students on projects spanning education to space robotics, such as Social Robots in Space for astronaut-Earth connectivity. These partnerships yield theses, conference papers, and startups, enriching higher ed portfolios.

Her advisory role extends to co-design with end-users, including older adults as robot co-designers, promoting inclusive research methodologies taught in university design courses.

Bridging Academia and Industry: Amazon Astro Insights

On sabbatical, Park served as an Amazon Visiting Academic at Lab126, enhancing the Astro household robot with HRI principles. Drawing from education and eldercare, she emphasized personality, responsiveness, and privacy to build user trust—like treating robots as pets. This transition highlights how university research fuels industry, with lessons feeding back into academic curricula on commercial HRI.Read more on her Amazon contributions.

Photo by Ahmad Faiz on Unsplash

Impact on Higher Education and Future Outlook

Park's work influences higher ed by providing datasets, platforms like the Social Robot Toolkit, and curricula for AI/robotics programs. Universities worldwide adopt her frameworks for labs, preparing students for HRI careers. Challenges remain, like ethical AI and data sparsity, but solutions via multimodal learning offer actionable paths.

Looking ahead, as HRI integrates large language models and wearables, Park's vision for human-flourishing robots will shape tenure-track research and interdisciplinary degrees. Her legacy empowers the next generation of scholars.

• Ethical guidelines for long-term HRI deployments.
• Scalable personalization techniques for edtech.
• Interdisciplinary training models for universities.