معرفی
Jivko Sinapov is an Associate Professor with dual appointments in the Department of Computer Science and Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tufts University's School of Engineering. He also serves as a CEEO Fellow at the Center for Engineering Education Outreach. His research focuses on enabling physical robots to operate and learn in human-inhabited environments through developmental approaches.
Education:
- PhD in Computer Science and Human-Computer Interaction, Iowa State University (2013)
- BSc in Computer Science and Mathematics, University of Rochester (2005)
Professor Sinapov's research centers on Artificial Intelligence, Developmental Robotics, Computational Perception, and Human-Robot Interaction. His work addresses fundamental questions about implementing intelligence in physical robots, with emphasis on enabling extended operation in human environments. His laboratory develops methods for behavioral object exploration, multi-modal perception, and knowledge transfer between robots, with applications ranging from educational robotics to space exploration. Current research directions include neurosymbolic approaches for handling novelty in open worlds, multimodal object property learning, and augmented reality interfaces for improved human-robot collaboration.
Scientific Awards and Recognition:
- Winner of the Verizon 100K 5G EdTech Challenge (Spring 2019) for AR-based robotics education
- NSF CAREER Award: "Learning and Sharing Transferable Grounded Object Knowledge for Collaborative Robots" (2023)
- CEEO Fellow at the Center for Engineering Education Outreach
Professor Sinapov actively mentors graduate students in the Multimodal Learning, Interaction, and Perception (MLIP) Lab, currently advising five PhD students across Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering departments. His research has been supported by significant grants including his NSF CAREER award. He has co-organized prominent symposia including the AAAI Spring Symposium on "Interactive Multi-Sensory Perception for Embodied Agents" (2017) and the AAAI Fall Symposium on "AI for Human-Robot Interaction" (2019).
He directs the Multimodal Learning, Interaction, and Perception (MLIP) Lab, which develops cognitive robotics systems capable of learning through environmental interaction. The lab's research spans robot learning, computational perception, and human-robot interaction, with applications in education, space technology, and collaborative robotics systems operating in complex human environments.
