Hang Yu | Tufts University | HRI & Robot Learning
Photo of Hang Yu
Hang Yu
Ph.D. Candidate • Tufts University — HRI & Robot Learning

About

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at Tufts University, advised by Dr. Elaine Short in the Assistive Agent and Behavior Learning lab (AABL). I work on improving robot learning from multi-modular human teaching, including human feedback, human demonstrations, and outputs from VLM/LLM. Most of my data is open-sourced and collected from public spaces with real-world non-expert users.

Actively open to research collaborations in HRI, RLHF for robots, and human data collection methodology.

News

  • Aug 2025
    🎓 Mentoring Co-authored three papers with my mentees at IEEE RO-MAN 2025.
  • May 2025
    🏆 Award Selected for the Doctoral Consortium: "Enabling Robust Learning from Non-Experts" at IEEE ICRA 2025.
  • Aug 2024
    🏆 Award Recipient of the Student Travel Award at IEEE RO-MAN 2024.
  • Oct 2023
    📄 Paper Published "From 'Thumbs Up' to '10 out of 10'" at IEEE/RSJ IROS 2023.

Publications

Conference Papers

CHARM framework diagram showing human attribute modeling for reinforcement learning

CHARM: Considering Human Attributes for Reinforcement Modeling

Qidi Fang*, Hang Yu*, Shijie Fang, Jindan Huang, Qiuyu Chen, Reuben M. Aronson, Elaine S. Short. IEEE RO-MAN 2025, Eindhoven, NL.
arXiv· PDF· Code
Visual examples of systematic non-optimality in human demonstrations from the Sidetracks dataset

Demonstration Sidetracks: Categorizing Systematic Non-Optimality in Human Demonstrations

Shijie Fang*, Hang Yu*, Qidi Fang, Reuben M. Aronson, Elaine S. Short. IEEE RO-MAN 2025, Eindhoven, NL.
arXiv· PDF· Dataset/Code
Cozmo robot face display designs testing expressiveness and clarity for HRI

See What I Mean? Expressiveness and Clarity in Robot Display Design

Matthew Ebisu, Hang Yu, Reuben M. Aronson, Elaine S. Short. IEEE RO-MAN 2025, Eindhoven, NL.
arXiv· PDF· Code
Human feedback signal interface showing progress bars for teaching robots

How Much Progress Did I Make? An Unexplored Human Feedback Signal for Teaching Robots

Hang Yu, Qidi Fang, Shijie Fang, Reuben M. Aronson, Elaine S. Short. IEEE RO-MAN 2024, Pasadena, USA.
arXiv· PDF· Dataset
Comparison of scalar feedback versus '10 out of 10' feedback scales in interactive reinforcement learning

From “Thumbs Up” to “10 out of 10”: Reconsidering Scalar Feedback in Interactive Reinforcement Learning

Hang Yu, Reuben M. Aronson, Katherine H. Allen, Elaine S. Short. IEEE/RSJ IROS 2023, Detroit, USA.
arXiv· PDF

Journal Publications

Diagram illustrating Top-K Interesting Preference Rules Mining Based on MaxClique

Top-K Interesting Preference Rules Mining Based on MaxClique

Zheng Tan, Jing-lei Liu, Hang Yu, Wei Wei. Expert Systems with Applications 143 (2020) 113043.
DOI· ScienceDirect
Framework for Contextual Preference Collaborative Measure Based on Belief System

Contextual Preference Collaborative Measure Framework Based on Belief System

Hang Yu, Wei Wei, Zheng Tan, Jing-lei Liu. Computer Science (计算机科学) 47(4):74–84, 2020.
Journal
MaxClique based Conditional Preference Mining diagram

Conditional Preference Mining Based on MaxClique

Zheng Tan, Jing-lei Liu, Hang Yu. Journal of Computer Applications (计算机应用) 37(11):3107–3114, 2017.
Journal

Workshops & Doctoral Consortium

Diagram for Human-Robot Interaction via Expressive Human Feedback

Doctoral Consortium: Human-Robot Interaction via Expressive Human Feedback

ICRA 2025 Doctoral Consortium.
PHIRL framework for Progress-Heuristicized Inverse Reinforcement Learning

PHIRL: Progress-Heuristicized Inverse Reinforcement Learning

RSS Workshop 2025.
Active Feedback Learning interface

Active Feedback Learning with Rich Feedback

HRI ’21 Companion.
ACM DL

Education

Tufts University
Ph.D. in Computer Science (Human–Robot Interaction)
GPA 4.0/4.0 — Expected Mar. 2026
Advisor: Dr. Elaine Schaertl Short
Tufts University
M.S.E. in Computer Science
GPA 3.95/4.0 — Jan. 2021
Advisor: Dr. Elaine Schaertl Short

Experience & Service

Teaching Assistant
  • Ethics for AI, Robotics, and HRI — Spring 2024, Spring 2025
  • Human–Robot Interaction — Fall 2022
  • Human–Computer Interaction — Spring 2021
  • C++ Programming — Fall 2016
Reviewer / Program Committee
  • HRI (2021–2024)
  • ICRA (2023–2025)
  • CoRL (2025)
  • AAAI (2026 PC)
  • AAMAS (2026 PC)
Honors & Awards
  • 2025: ICRA Doctoral Consortium
  • 2024: RO-MAN Travel Grant
  • 2017: Yantai University Outstanding Student Scholarship
  • 2016: Lanqiao Programming Competition National First Prize

Contact

Email: hyu08@tufts.edu

Google Scholar: Profile

A Little More about Me

Outside research photo 1
Outside research photo 2
Outside research photo 3
Outside research photo 4