For more than 30 years, University of Massachusetts Lowell professor Holly Yanco has been a leading mind in human-robot interaction. It seems the rest of the automation industry may finally be catching up with her decades of research.

Professor Yanco delves into the complexities of human–robot interaction, from telepresence robots and robot trust to assistive tech, exoskeleton advances, and the challenges of real-world deployment. She shares lessons from decades of testing, breaking, and improving robots, why telepresence robots never had their predicted breakout moment, and what it takes to build capability-driven systems people can actually trust. This episode covers: agricultural robotics, underwater testing, community-college talent pipelines, and what it really takes to grow the next generation of roboticists.

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