In factories, physical barriers often separate people and robots. But as robot designs evolve to make them safer for the workplace, clear divisions of labor between people and machines persist. MIT roboticist Julie Shah describes her research into how to make robots truly collaborative partners, able to anticipate and adapt to the needs of their human teammates. Julie Shah is an Associate Professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT and leads the Interactive Robotics Group of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Before joining the faculty, she worked at Boeing Research and Technology on robotics applications for aerospace manufacturing. She has developed innovative methods for enabling fluid human-robot teamwork in time-critical, safety-critical domains, ranging from manufacturing to surgery to space exploration. In 2014, Shah was recognized with an NSF CAREER award for her work on “Human-aware Autonomy for Team-oriented Environments," and by the MIT Technology Review TR35 list as one of the world’s top innovators under the age of 35. Her work on industrial human-robot collaboration was also recognized by Technology Review as one of the 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2013.
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