{"689197":{"#nid":"689197","#data":{"type":"event","title":"PhD Defense by J. Taery Kim","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETitle\u003C\/strong\u003E: Human-Centered Embodied Intelligence for Assistive Robots\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDate\u003C\/strong\u003E: Wednesday, April 8, 2026\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETime\u003C\/strong\u003E: 4:00 - 6:00 PM EST\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELocation\u003C\/strong\u003E: \u0026nbsp;Coda C1215 Midtown (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.zoom.us\/j\/95550584230?pwd=YmqY33RM27JLcWTmiJNO6qi61bAOdN.1\u0022\u003EZoom Link\u003C\/a\u003E)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJ. Taery Kim\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPh.D. Candidate in Computer Science\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Interactive Computing\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/taery-kim.notion.site\/\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/taery-kim.notion.site\/\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECommittee members\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Sehoon Ha (Advisor) - School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Greg Turk - School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Bruce N. Walker - Schools of Psychology \u0026amp; School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Wenhao Yu\u0026nbsp;- Staff Research Scientist at Google DeepMind Robotics\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Donghyun Kim\u0026nbsp;- CICS, University of Massachusetts Amherst\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbstract\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERobots intended to assist or collaborate with people must not only perceive their environments but also understand human needs, social context, and interaction dynamics. Yet current embodied systems often address these challenges in isolation, limiting their ability to align with human expectations in real-world settings. This proposal presents a human-centered embodied intelligence framework that integrates user-grounded insights, interaction modeling, and context-adaptive navigation for assistive robots. First, I investigate the expectations and design preferences of blind or visually impaired individuals through two user-centered studies. These findings identify essential functional, aesthetic, and interaction requirements, establishing a grounded foundation for designing assistive robotic systems that integrate into users\u2019 daily lives and broader social contexts. Next, I formalize the collaborative guidance task between humans and assistive robots and develop data-driven interaction models that capture human-robot dynamics during teamed navigation. These models enable safe and user-aligned guiding behaviors in real-world scenarios. Finally, I present a situation-aware object navigation framework for indoor environments to investigate how semantic and situational cues can shape navigation behavior and potentially improve alignment with human expectations. Together, this work advances human-centered embodied intelligence by combining user-grounded insights, interaction modeling, and adaptive navigation behavior for robots operating alongside people.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EHuman-Centered Embodied Intelligence for Assistive Robots\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Human-Centered Embodied Intelligence for Assistive Robots "}],"uid":"27707","created_gmt":"2026-03-26 12:55:31","changed_gmt":"2026-03-26 13:03:29","author":"Tatianna Richardson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2026-04-08T16:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2026-04-08T18:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2026-04-08T18:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2026-04-08 20:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2026-04-08 22:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2026-04-08 22:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"location":"Coda C1215 Midtown (Zoom Link)","extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"100811","name":"Phd Defense"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1788","name":"Other\/Miscellaneous"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78771","name":"Public"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}