Sonia Chernova

Sonia Chernova is an Associate Professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech's College of Computing. She leads the Robot Autonomy and Interactive Learning (RAIL) lab, focusing on developing intelligent and interactive autonomous systems. Her research spans robotics and AI, emphasizing semantic reasoning, human-robot interaction, and explainable AI. She directs the NSF AI Institute for Collaborative Assistance and Responsive Interaction for Networked Groups (AI-CARING), which develops AI systems to support aging adults in home environments.

Research Interests: Chernova’s work integrates human-centric approaches to robotics, including adaptive autonomy, explainable AI, and AI for health. She explores how robots can learn from human feedback, navigate ambiguous tasks, and provide proactive assistance in daily environments. Her lab’s projects emphasize real-world applications in healthcare, smart homes, and collaborative human-robot teams.

Key Contributions:

• Developed frameworks for preference adaptation in object rearrangement and human-robot collaboration
• Pioneered explainable AI techniques for robot failures and decision-making transparency
• Advanced semantic reasoning methods for robots operating in everyday environments
• Led initiatives in proactive assistive robotics and aging-in-place technologies

Awards & Recognition:

• 2021 IEEE/ACM HRI Best Paper Award
• 2018 NAE Frontiers of Engineering Top 100 Researcher
• 2014 ONR Young Investigator Award
• 2012 NSF CAREER Award

Teaching & Outreach: Teaches courses on robotics, human-robot interaction, and robotics research. Co-chaired the Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL 2023) and developed outreach programs to bridge pre-college computer science education gaps.

Affiliations: GVU Center, Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (IRIM), and the NSF AI-CARING Institute.