New Doctors in the House
Congratulations to the first batch of PhD graduates from the Teaming Lab: Dr. Pam Qian (now Assistant Professor @ the University of Houston); Dr. Sangwon Seo (now @ Google); and Dr. Liubove Savko (now @ Nvidia).
Vaibhav Unhelkar
- Assistant Professor
- Human-AI Teaming Lab
- Department of Computer Science
- Rice University
I am an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Rice University, where I direct the Human-AI Teaming Lab. I am also a member of the Ken Kennedy Institute, the Rice Robotics Initiative, and Rice Digital Health.
Teamwork is central to the human enterprise. Yet, despite impressive advances, today’s AI & robotic systems still cannot team up effectively with people. This gap limits how much these systems can help us, and worse, risks unintended consequences for the very humans they are designed to support. To ensure seamless coordination between humans and machines, my research advances algorithms for understanding human intent and explaining machine behavior.
In collaboration with subject-matter experts, I have applied these algorithms to build AI coordinators to improve teamwork, collaborative robots that work alongside humans, and robotic tutors to support clinical training.
I am also engaged in the broader AI & robotics community, serving on the editorial board of IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters and on program committees for several leading conferences (such as AAAI, ICRA, and AAMAS). I am most proud of my research advisees, several of whom have earned prestigious fellowships and now advance human-AI teaming as independent researchers in academia and industry.
Highlights
Robotic Tutors
Robots can now help humans learn physical skills! Read more about the robotic tutor Astrid that helps nurses practice and prevent healthcare-associated infections in our Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) 2025 paper.
Workshops
The Human-AI Teaming Lab co-organized two exciting workshops: Robotics for Nursing at the International Symposium on Medical Robotics; and Rice's first Human-Autonomy Teaming Summit.
Research Themes
Computational Foundations
Effective teamwork begins with mutual understanding. My research develops algorithms that let machines infer human intent from behavior, and methods that explain AI decisions to human teammates. Together, these form the two-way communication that human-AI teaming requires.
Interactive AI & Robotics
My research lab designs interactive agents as stepping stones toward human-AI teaming. Cognitive assistants act as coaches and coordinators, guiding human teams without doing the task themselves. Robotic assistants take the complementary role, working alongside people to carry out the task.
Use-Inspired Research
To ground the foundational research in real applications, I partner with collaborators and subject-matter experts. Together, my lab is developing an AI coach that helps strengthen teamwork and robotic tutors that assess nursing skills. I am always looking to bring my research to new domains.