Teaching Introductory HRI: UChicago Course "Human-Robot Interaction: Research and Practice"

Abstract

In 2020, I designed the course CMSC 20630/30630 Human-Robot Interaction: Research and Practice as a hands-on introduction to human-robot interaction (HRI) research for both undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Chicago. Since 2020, I have taught and refined this course each academic year. Human-Robot Interaction: Research and Practice focuses on the core concepts and cutting-edge research in the field of human-robot interaction (HRI), covering topics that include: nonverbal robot behavior, verbal robot behavior, social dynamics, norms & ethics, collaboration & learning, group interactions, applications, and future challenges of HRI. Course meetings involve students in the class leading discussions about cutting-edge peer-reviewed research HRI publications. Students also participate in a quarter-long collaborative research project, where they pursue an HRI research question that often involves conducing their own human-subjects research study where they recruit human subjects to interact with a robot. In this paper, I detail the structure of the course and its learning goals as well as my reflections and student feedback on the course.