Photo of Hang Yu

Hang Yu 余航

Ph.D. Candidate · Tufts University · HRI & Robot Learning

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. My work focus on Human-Robot Interaction, Robot Learning, VLAs, and Agentic Robotics. Most of my datasets are open-sourced and were collected in public spaces with real-world, non-expert users. Right now I am a research intern at ABB Robotics, working on building new VLA models for bimanual manipulation and exploring agentic robotics for industrial robotics.

Volume 01About

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.

Research Interests

Topics
Interactive RL • Learning from Human Feedback • Learning from Demonstrations • Human modeling for robot learning • Evaluation & datasets for HRI
Keywords
HRI, RLHF/RLAIF, IntRL, Preference learning, Human factors
Human teaching a robot using kinesthetic teaching demonstrations for imitation learning Interface for robot learning from rich human feedback showing scalar and directional inputs
Volume 02News

News

  • Present InternshipI am a Research Intern at ABB Robotics, working on VLA for bimanual manipulation.
  • Present TalkI gave a talk at Yale University.
  • Aug 2025 MentoringCo-authored three papers with my mentees at IEEE RO-MAN 2025.
  • May 2025 AwardSelected for the Doctoral Consortium: "Enabling Robust Learning from Non-Experts" at IEEE ICRA 2025.
  • Aug 2024 AwardRecipient of the Student Travel Award at IEEE RO-MAN 2024.
  • Oct 2023 PaperPublished "From 'Thumbs Up' to '10 out of 10'" at IEEE/RSJ IROS 2023.
Volume 03Education

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
Journal & WorkshopsPublications

Journal Publications

  1. 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.

    DOIScienceDirect

  2. 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

  3. 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

  1. Diagram for Human-Robot Interaction via Expressive Human Feedback

    Doctoral Consortium: Human-Robot Interaction via Expressive Human Feedback

    ICRA 2025 Doctoral Consortium

  2. PHIRL framework for Progress-Heuristicized Inverse Reinforcement Learning

    PHIRL: Progress-Heuristicized Inverse Reinforcement Learning

    RSS Workshop 2025

  3. Active Feedback Learning interface

    Active Feedback Learning with Rich Feedback

    HRI ’21 Companion · ACM DL

Volume 04Publications

Publications

Conference Papers

  1. 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.

    arXivPDFCode

  2. 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.

    arXivPDFDataset / Code

  3. 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.

    arXivPDFCode

  4. 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.

    arXivPDFDataset

  5. 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.

    arXivPDF

Volume 05Experience & Service

Experience & Service

Research
  • Research Intern, ABB Robotics — VLA for bimanual manipulation (present)
  • Graduate Researcher, AABL Lab, Tufts University — advised by Dr. Elaine Schaertl Short
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
Volume 06Life

A Little More about Me

Photographs and a short film from outside the lab.

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

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