Nathan Dennler

  • 2026

  • Diagram of QuickLAP combining human trajectory and language feedback to predict feature preferences for autonomous driving.

    QuickLAP: Quick Language-Action Preference Learning for Semi-Autonomous Agents

    Jordan Abi Nader, David Lee, Nathaniel Dennler, Andreea Bobu

    Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS)

    Website Paper
  • Teaser image for GIFT.

    GIFT: Generalizing Intent for Flexible Test-Time Rewards

    Fin Amin, Nathaniel Dennler, Andreea Bobu

    IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)

    Website Paper
  • Diagram of the Masked IRL pipeline, showing language disambiguation and state mask prediction from a user demonstration.

    Masked Inverse Reinforcement Learning for Language Conditioned Reward Learning

    Minyoung Hwang, Alexandra Forsey-Smerek, Nathaniel Dennler, Andreea Bobu

    IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)

    Website Paper
  • Gif of crocheted capacitive touch sensors.

    Crocheted Capacitive Touch Sensors for Soft Reconfigurable Interfaces

    Stephania Castro, Amy O'Connell, Bailey Cislowski, Nathaniel Dennler, Heather Culbertson, Maja Matarić

    IEEE Haptics Symposium

    Paper

  • 2025

  • HRIBench benchmark overview.

    HRIBench: Benchmarking Vision-Language Models for Real-Time Human Perception in Human-Robot Interaction

    Zhonghao Shi, Enyu Zhao, Nathaniel Dennler, Jingzhen Wang, Xinyang Xu, Kaleen Shrestha, Mengxue Fu, Daniel Seita, Maja Matarić.

    International Symposium on Experimental Robotics (ISER)

    Paper
  • Personlized difficulty map for reaching exercises.

    Modeling Personalized Difficulty of Rehabilitation Exercises Using Causal Trees

    Nathaniel Dennler, Zhonghao Shi, Uksang Yoo, Stefanos Nikolaidis, Maja Matarić

    IEEE/RAS International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR)

    Website Paper
  • Robots dressed in different kinds of clothing.

    Designing Identity: The Role of Voice, Clothing, and Task on Robot Gender Perception

    Nathaniel Dennler, Mina Kian, Stefanos Nikolaidis, Maja Matarić

    2025 Springer International Journal on Social Robotics

    Paper
  • Video of MOE-Hair performing a variety of hair care tasks on different users.

    Soft and Compliant Contact-Rich Hair Manipulation and Care.

    Uksang Yoo, Nathaniel Dennler, Eliot Xing, Maja Matarić, Stefanos Nikolaidis, Jeffrey Ichnowski, Jean Oh

    2025 ACM/IEEE Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)

    Best Systems Paper Finalist Website Paper
  • Video of Kuri helping a person find items.

    Contrastive Learning from Exploratory Actions: Leveraging Natural Interactions for Preference Elicitation.

    Nathaniel Dennler, Stefanos Nikolaidis, Maja Matarić

    2025 ACM/IEEE Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)

    Best Technical Paper Finalist Website Paper

  • 2024

  • Video of blossom robots enacting user-designed gestures.

    User Experience in Preference-Based Optimization of Reward Functions for Assistive Robots.

    Nathaniel Dennler, Zhonghao Shi, Stefanos Nikolaidis, Maja Matarić

    2024 International Symposium on Robotics Research (ISRR)

    Paper
  • Faces with different facial expressions and different colors.

    PyLips: an Open-Source Python Package to Expand Participation in Embodied Interaction

    Nathaniel Dennler, Evan Torrence, Uksang Yoo, Stefanos Nikolaidis, Maja J. Matarić

    ACM User Interface Software and Technology (UIST) Demo Track

    Website Paper
  • Queer in Robotics Logo.

    Launching Queer in Robotics

    Raj Korpan, Ruchira Ray, Andrea Sipos, Nathaniel Dennler, Max Parks, Maria E. Cabrera, Roberto Martín-Martín

    IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine

    Website Paper
  • a user stacking a cup with an assistive robot.

    Adapting Task Difficulty in a Cup-Stacking Rehabilitative Task

    Melina Daniilidis, Nathaniel Dennler, Maja Matarić, Stefanos Nikolaidis

    2024 Companion of the ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI LBR)

    Paper
  • robot touching hair.

    MOE-Hair: Toward Soft and Compliant Contact-rich Hair Manipulation and Care

    Uksang Yoo, Nathaniel Dennler, Maja Matarić, Stefanos Nikolaidis, Jean Oh, Jeffrey Ichnowski

    2024 Companion of the ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI LBR)

    Best LBR Poster Paper
  • image illustrating exploratory search in a robot interaction scenario.

    Using Exploratory Search to Learn Representations for Human Preferences

    Nathaniel Dennler, Stefanos Nikolaidis, Maja Matarić

    2024 Companion of the ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI LBR)

    Website Paper Video

  • 2023

  • Video of a robot arm assisting a poststroke individual.

    A metric for characterizing the arm nonuse workspace in poststroke individuals using a robot arm

    Nathaniel Dennler, Amelia Cain, Erica De Guzman, Claudia Chiu, Carolee J. Winstein, Stefanos Nikolaidis, Maja J. Matarić

    Science Robotics

    Paper
  • conceptual diagram of harms encountered by queer people.

    Bound by the Bounty: Collaboratively Shaping Evaluation Processes for Queer AI Harms

    Nathaniel Dennler, Anaelia Ovalle, Ashwin Singh, Luca Soldaini, Arjun Subramonian, Huy Tu, William Agnew, Avijit Ghosh, Kyra Yee, Irene Font Peradejordi, Zeerak Talat, Mayra Russo, Jess De Jesus De Pinho Pinhal

    2023 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society (AIES)

    Paper
  • Video of a Kuri robot issuing a user-designed signal.

    The RoSiD Tool: Empowering Users to Design Multimodal Signals

    Nathaniel Dennler, David Delgado, Daniel Zeng, Stefanos Nikolaidis, Maja Matarić

    2023 International Symposium on Experimental Robotics (ISER)

    Paper
  • image of various robot embodiments illustrating design metaphors.

    Design metaphors for understanding user expectations of socially interactive robot embodiments

    Nathaniel Dennler, Changxiao Ruan, Jessica Hadiwijoyo, Brenna Chen, Stefanos Nikolaidis, Maja J. Matarić

    2023 ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction

    Website Paper Video
  • Lunar lander demo animation with the pyribs logo overlaid.

    pyribs: A bare-bones python library for quality diversity optimization

    Bryon Tjanaka, Matthew C Fontaine, David H Lee, Yulun Zhang, Nivedit Reddy Balam, Nathaniel Dennler, Sujay S Garlanka, Nikitas Dimitri Klapsis, Stefanos Nikolaidis

    2023 Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO)

    Website Paper
  • The queer in AI logo.

    Queer in AI: A case study in community-led participatory AI

    Anaelia Ovalle, Arjun Subramonian, Ashwin Singh, Claas Voelcker, Danica J Sutherland, Davide Locatelli, Eva Breznik, Filip Klubicka, Hang Yuan, Huan Zhang, Jaidev Shriram, Kruno Lehman, Luca Soldaini, Maarten Sap, Marc Peter Deisenroth, Maria Leonor Pacheco, Maria Ryskina, Martin Mundt, Milind Agarwal, Nyx McLean, Pan Xu, A Pranav, Raj Korpan, Ruchira Ray, Sarah Mathew, Sarthak Arora, ST John, Tanvi Anand, Vishakha Agrawal, William Agnew, Yanan Long, Zijie J Wang, Zeerak Talat, Avijit Ghosh, Nathaniel Dennler, Michael Noseworthy, Sharvani Jha, Emi Baylor, Aditya Joshi, Natalia Y Bilenko, Andrew McNamara, Raphael Gontijo-Lopes, Alex Markham, Evyn Dong, Jackie Kay, Manu Saraswat, Nikhil Vytla, Luke Stark

    2023 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT)

    Best Paper Website Paper
  • image of a Furhat robot with a projected face saying

    Can a gender-ambiguous voice reduce gender stereotypes in human-robot interactions?

    Ilaria Torre, Erik Lagerstedt, Nathaniel Dennler, Katie Seaborn, Iolanda Leite, Éva Székely

    2023 IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)

    Paper
  • image showing different embodiments.

    Evaluating and personalizing user-perceived quality of text-to-speech voices for delivering mindfulness meditation with different physical embodiments

    Zhonghao Shi, Han Chen, Anna-Maria Velentza, Siqi Liu, Nathaniel Dennler, Allison O'Connell,Maja Matarić

    2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)

    Paper

  • 2021

  • video of a JACO arm combing hair.

    Design and Evaluation of a Hair Combing System Using a General-Purpose Robotic Arm

    Nathaniel Dennler, Eura Shin, Stefanos Nikolaidis, Maja Matarić

    2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)

    Paper Video
  • user with cerebral palsy gesturing to the robot.

    Personalizing User Engagement Dynamics in a Non-Verbal Communication Game for Cerebral Palsy

    Nathaniel Dennler, Catherine Yunis, Jonathan Realmuto, Terence Sanger, Stefanos Nikolaidis, Maja Matarić

    2021 IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)

    Paper