News

Visit from Buzz
June, 2015

Happy Birthday to the College of Computing! Simon got a special vistor today...and a ballon.

Amazon Picking Challenge
May 28, 2015

Congratulations to Eric Huang and the GT APC team, they took 10th place at the Amazon Picking Challenge that took place at ICRA this week!


Congrats Dr. Chao!
May 1, 2015

Congratulations to Dr. Crystal Chao, one of 5 of our Robotics PhD graduates this year!

Crystal Chao, Thesis Defense
March 12, 2015

Congrats to Crystal on successully defending her PhD thesis: "Timing Multimodal Turn-Taking in Human-Robot Cooperative Activity."


Come interact with Simon!
Jan, 2015

We need volunteers to interact with Simon this Wednesday-Friday, 1/7-1/9. The study involves collaborating with Simon to build a block model, and it should take about 30 mins of your time. Contact Crystal (cchao at gatech) to sign up!

SIM lab on CBS morning
Dec. 29, 2014

Our first national TV news coverage! CBS morning news featured "Georgia Tech Lab Turning Computers into Companions", includes demos of Crystal Chao's thesis work on collaborative dialog, and Baris Akgun's thesis work on learning from demonstrations. Check out our outreach page!


LfD Book is Out
May, 2014

Now available: S. Chernova and A. L. Thomaz "Robots Learning from Human Teachers", Synthesis Lectures on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Morgan and Claypool Publishers, 2014.

Tesca wins an NSF Fellowship!
April 1, 2014

Tesca Fitzgerald has been awarded the prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Tesca is a first year CS PhD student with an interest in Cognitive Robotics and Learning from Demonstration. Congrats!!


Vivian wins a Google Anita Borg Scholarship!
March 24, 2014

Vivian Chu has been awarded the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship. Vivian is a first year Robotics PhD student with an interest in visio-tactile representations of manipulation skills, and learning these through exploration and social guidance. Congrats!

Gielniak, IJRR Vol 32, No 11
Oct 1, 2013

Michael's thesis work on Humanlike Motion Generation is now published in the International Journal of Robotics Research. Congrats Michael!




Contact Information

  • Contact Andrea Thomaz with inquiries about the SIM research lab.
  • Media inquiries, please contact the College of Computing's communications office.
  • Apply to Georgia Tech:

    Typically students working in the Socially Intelligent Machines lab are in the CS or Robotics PhD programs, some have been ECE PhD students as well. If you are interested in working on some exciting Human-Robot Interaction problems for your graduate studies apply to one of these programs this Fall. Additionally, it is a good idea to send Prof. Thomaz an email with your CV and statement of purpose as it relates to the group.

  • Prospective Graduate Research Assistants:

    The best way to start working with the SIM lab and to eventually become a GRA is to take Prof. Thomaz's graduate course, or to work with her on an indepenedent study problem. Current or incoming students interested in an independent study project should contact Dr. Thomaz, and include the following: 1) What is your interest in Social Machines? 2) What is your current status at Georgia Tech? 3) Your cv/resume.

  • Prospective Undergraduate Research Assistants:

    We are always looking for hardworking undergraduates interested in doing a UROC project in our group. Please contact Dr. Thomaz by email if you are looking for research experience through the UROC program.