Welcome to the Human-AI Teaming Lab at Rice University! We pursue research on human-AI/robot interaction, with an emphasis on teamwork in the physical world. Advancing the computational foundations, we develop algorithms for understanding human intent and explaining machine behavior. To demonstrate its real-world potential, we partner with subject-matter experts to build cognitive and robotic assistants that enhance human capability.
Congratulations to the first batch of PhD graduates from the Teaming Lab: Dr. Pam Qian (now Assistant Professor @ the University of Houston); Dr. Sangwon Seo (now @ Google); and Dr. Liubove Savko (now @ Nvidia).
Robots can now help humans learn physical skills! Read more about our robotic tutor Astrid that helps nurses practice and prevent healthcare-associated infections in our Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) 2025 paper.
We co-organized two exciting workshops: Robotics for Nursing at the International Symposium on Medical Robotics (ISMR); and Rice's first Human-Autonomy Teaming (HAT) Summit.
Effective teamwork begins with mutual understanding. We develop algorithms that let machines infer human intent from behavior, and methods that explain AI decisions to human teammates. Together, these form the two-way communication that human-AI teaming requires.
We design interactive agents as stepping stones toward human-AI teaming. Cognitive assistants act as coaches and coordinators, guiding human teams without doing the task themselves. Robotic assistants take the complementary role, working alongside people to carry out the task.
To ground our research in real applications, we partner with collaborators and subject-matter experts. Together, we are developing an AI coach that helps strengthen teamwork and robotic tutors that assess nursing skills. We are always looking to bring our research to new domains.
