Yale Portfolio
Yale University PhD Application - Portfolio Page
Welcome to my portfolio page for the PhD program at Yale University, with a focus on the Social Robotics Lab. I am fundamentally interested in researching two macro categories: one being the interaction sets a social robot requires for human engagement, the second being how to harness those interactions to positively impact our health. Some of the questions I seek to answer include:
To what extent does a robot’s form factor influence its ability to build an emotional bond with a user?
How deep must this bond be in order to influence health behaviors?
At what point does a bond become a hindrance by distancing that person to reality and human relationships?
What happens if a robot is presented in VR versus in physical reality, does it hold the same efficacy?
How often does a user need to engage with a robot in order to feel companionship, and how much does software smarts (ex. remembering past events, personalizing interactions, evolving interactions over time) influence this ability?
Below, you will find a select set of projects that showcase my skillsets in new interface and agent design, behavior change, prototyping, and combining creativity with engineering.
The following two projects are deep dives into the intersection of agent design and behavior change:
A social robot for building daily wellness habits.
My roles: inventor, founder, CEO, researcher, mechanical engineer, firmware engineer, product manager, designer (physical product, behavioral, and brand), marketer, and more.
Skills showcased:
• Robot/hardware UX • Behavioral design • Mechanical engineering • Mobile design • Firmware development • Iterative prototyping + testing • Entrepreneurship
A conversational AI companion for sleep behaviors.
My roles: inventor, founder, researcher, conversational designer, behavioral designer, technical product manager.
Skills showcased:
• Conversational agent design • Behavioral design • Iterative prototyping + testing • Entrepreneurship
The following three projects are from my undergraduate days, in both engineering and art:
The form factor and manufacturing development of a purposefully-minimal prosthetic hand with the Yale GRAB Lab.
My roles: humanoid CAD design, manufacturing (3D printing, resin casting, CNC milling), testing support.
Skills showcased: Lab research • Human-centered design • Mechanical engineering • Rapid prototyping
Explorations into the concept of negative space, typography, and the translation from two to three dimensions.
My roles: artist, fabricator.
Skills showcased: Creativity • Intellectual variations on a theme • Blend of engineering + art
A study on the intersection of fashion and shelter.
My roles: artist, fabricator.
Skills showcased: Creativity • Blend of engineering + art
To see more projects click here.