I am a Ph.D. Candidate at Cornell Tech under the supervision of Prof. Wendy Ju.
My research investigates how context shapes human-robot interaction. I design systems and tools that account
for environmental, social, and situational factors in human-centered studies,
aiming to better understand how these factors influence human perceptions and behaviors. By developing methods
that help robots interpret and respond to nuanced human cues, my work seeks
to improve the design and deployment of interactive robotic systems. My research bridges design, robotics, and
human-computer interaction to create technologies that are adaptable, contextually
aware, and responsive to real-world complexities.
News
- New publications at CHI 2025! Stay tuned.
- [11/15] Gave a talk at the 2nd HRI International Symposium held by Naver Labs Europe.
- [5/28] Start my summer internship at Toyota Research Institute.
- [5/14] Presented our work Portobello at CHI and received an Honoranle Mention Award!
- [3/25] Gave a talk at Nokia Bell Labs Responsible AI Seminar.
Publications
-
Boosting Visual Fidelity in Driving Simulations through Diffusion Models.
Fanjun Bu and Hiroshi Yasuda.
Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2025 -
The People Behind the Robots: How Wizards Wrangle Robots in Public Deployments.
Hannah R. M. Pelikan, Fanjun Bu, and Wendy Ju.
CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2025 -
The Robotability Score: Enabling Harmonious Robot Navigation on Urban Streets.
Matt Franchi*, Maria Teresa Parreira*, Fanjun Bu*, and Wendy Ju.
CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2025 -
ReStory: VLM-Augmentation of Social Human-Robot Interaction Datasets.
Fanjun Bu, and Wendy Ju.
International Conference on Social Robotics, 2024 -
SSUP-HRI: Social signaling in urban public human-robot interaction dataset.
Fanjun Bu, and Wendy Ju.
International Conference on Social Robotics, 2024 -
Behind the Scenes of CXR: Designing a Geo-Synchronized Communal eXtended Reality System.
Sharon Yavo-Ayalon, Yuzhen Zhang, Ruixiang Han, Swapna Joshi, Fanjun Bu, Cooper Murr, Lunshi Zhou, and Wendy Ju.
Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS), 2024
Honorable Mention Award -
Field Notes on Deploying Research Robots in Public Spaces
Fanjun Bu, Alexandra Bremers, Mark Colley, Wendy Ju.
Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2024 -
Portobello: Extending Driving Simulation from the Lab to the Road.
Fanjun Bu, Stacey Li, David Goedicke, Mark Colley, Gyanendra Sharma, Wendy Ju.
CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2024
Honorable Mention Award -
Trash in Motion: Emergent interactions with robotic trashcans in a public square.
Barry Brown, Fanjun Bu, Ilan Mandel, Wendy Ju.
CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2024 -
Trash Barrel Robots in the City.
Fanjun Bu*, Ilan Mandel*, Wen-Ying Lee, Wendy Ju.
Companion of the 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2023 -
XR-OOM: MiXed Reality driving simulation with real cars for research and design.
David Goedicke, Alexandra WD Bremers, Sam Lee, Fanjun Bu, Hiroshi Yasuda, Wendy Ju.
CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2022 -
Human-robot commensality: Bite timing prediction for robot-assisted feeding in groups.
Jan Ondras, Abrar Anwar, Tong Wu, Fanjun Bu, Malte Jung, Jorge Jose Ortiz, Tapomayukh Bhattacharjee.
6th Annual Conference on Robot Learning, 2022 -
Object permanence through audio-visual representations.
Fanjun Bu, Chien-Ming Huang.
IEEE Access, 2021
[Dataset] [Video] -
Benchmark for bimanual robotic manipulation of semi-deformable objects.
Konstantinos Chatzilygeroudis, Bernardo Fichera, Ilaria Lauzana, Fanjun Bu, Kunpeng Yao, Farshad Khadivar, Aude Billard.
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2020
Teaching Assistantships
- [Spring 2024] CS5678 3D User Interface
- [Spring 2023] INFO5755/INFO6755/CS5755/CS675 Mobile Human Robot Interaction Design TA Award
- [Fall 2021] CS4750/CS5750/ECE4770/MAE4760. Foundations of Robotics TA Award
Press
- Staff, "These robotic trash cans were filmed to test human-robotic interactions. Watch what happened," CNN Business, April 12, 2023.
- Ayesha Rascoe, "Researchers released robot trash cans in NYC to see how people would react," National Public Radio (NPR), April 16, 2023.
- Patricia Waldron, "(Almost) everyone likes a helpful trash robot," Cornell Chronicle, April 19, 2023.
- Mike Snider, "Robots in the Big Apple: Robo-trash cans patrolling New York plaza make friends, creep out some," USA TODAY, April 15, 2023.
- 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.