HAI Postdoctoral Fellowship with the Intelligent and Interactive Autonomous Systems Lab, Department of Computer Science

Stanford Intelligent and Interactive Autonomous Systems Group (ILIAD), led by Professor Dorsa Sadigh, develops algorithms for AI agents that safely and reliably interact with people. Our mission is to develop theoretical foundations for human-robot and human-AI interaction. The goal of the proposed research is to develop caregiving robots that can provide long-term assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) to people with mobility limitations. Based on the central tenet that robots need to optimize both physical and social interactions to provide efficient, safe, and personalized assistance for ADLs, this work will focus on developing robot-assisted feeding as a long-term caregiving solution for a person with upper-extremity disability in an unstructured, real-home environment. Successful feeding consists of bite acquisition and bite transfer; our methods integrate those activities towards the development of an intelligent and personalized robot-assisted feeding system. Our models leverage multimodal feedback to develop human-in-the-loop control policies that adapt to a range of human and environmental factors. Realizing that full autonomy can be challenging in unstructured and dynamic environments, the proposed methods will leverage expert human feedback while minimizing the cognitive load, and interweave them intelligently with autonomy to arrive at a long-term caregiving solution. Our work will have a direct impact on public life, health, and comfort. Developing policies that consider the human in the loop at every step and learn from their feedback through multiple modalities, e.g., comparisons, physical feedback, or language, will have an impact on many other human-robot interaction domains including but not limited to assistive teleoperation of robots.

The postdoctoral fellow will be joining the Intelligent and Interactive Autonomous Systems Lab (ILIAD) in the Computer Science Department, where our research is focused on developing algorithms for autonomous and robotics agents that safely and reliably interact with humans. The fellow will have the opportunity to lead their own research, mentor graduate or undergraduate students, collaborate on writing proposals, and teach guest lectures in graduate courses on robot autonomy and interactive robotics.

Stanford HAI is also committed to creating a diverse community of scholars who are engaged in contributing to the understanding and advancement of Human-Centered AI. Postdoctoral fellows will have the opportunity to engage with one another and with the broader Stanford HAI research community. They are also expected to participate in professional development, cohort-building, and other programmatic activities organized by HAI.

Qualifications

  • Ph.D. in Computer Science
  • Expertise in robotics, human-robot interaction, and machine learning including publications at robotics and machine learning venues such as CoRL, RSS, ICRA, HRI, NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR
  • Completion of all doctoral requirements within the last three years and no later than September 1, 2023

Evaluation Criteria

We look for postdoctoral fellows who have the qualifications mentioned above, and have prior experience in robotics research with interest in addressing challenges of human-robot systems such as assistive robots.

Timeline

  • Application Deadline: March 20, 2023 (Applicants advancing in the review process may be asked to submit additional materials, including letters of recommendation, and may be invited to interview.)
  • Selections to be made by mid-April, 2023
  • This is a 1-year appointment starting Fall 2023

Apply

For full consideration, send a complete application in a single PDF to HAI-Fellowships@stanford.edu with the subject line: “HAI Postdoc Fellowship - ILIAD.””

Complete applications will include:

  • Cover letter explaining your interest in becoming a postdoc with the respective research lab/center/faculty through the HAI Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (500 words max).
  • Curriculum Vitae (CV)
  • Short answer responses (300 max each):
    • Description of your dissertation research and broader research agenda
    • How do you see your research training and expertise contributing toward the understanding and advancement of Human-Centered AI? HAI thinks about "Human-Centered AI" through three focus areas.
  • One representative writing sample (published or unpublished)

The expected base pay for this position is $80,000/yr. The pay offered to the selected candidate will be determined based on factors including (but not limited to) the qualifications of the selected candidate, budget availability, and internal equity.

Stanford is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.