Autonomous Intelligent Robotics Group
School of Computing
The State University of New York (SUNY) at Binghamton
About AIR Group
We are a group of researchers, at SUNY Binghamton. AIR group's research interests include Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, and Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). Our goal is to develop intelligent mobile robots that are able to interact with people, provide services to people, and learn from this experience, in human-inhabited, collaborative environments.
Group News
Human-Robot Systems (HRS) reading group || AIR lab how-to page (to edit) || Important Deadlines
Research Areas
AIR research is supported in part by grants from the National Science Foundation (IIS-2428998, IIS-1925044), Ford Motor Company (URP Award), OPPO (Faculty Research Award), and SUNY Research Foundation.
Knowledge-based Sequential Decision Making
-
Commonsense Reasoning for Planning under Uncertainty
- Saeid Amiri, Mohammad S. Shirazi, and Shiqi Zhang, Learning and Reasoning for Robot Sequential Decision Making under Uncertainty, The Thirty-Fourth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), 2020
- Shiqi Zhang, Mohan Sridharan and Jeremy Wyatt, Mixed Logical Inference and Probabilistic Planning for Robots in Unreliable Worlds, IEEE Transactions on Robotics (TRO), 31 (3): 699-713, 2015
- Yohei Hayamizu, Saeid Amiri, Kishan Chandan, Keiki Takadama, and Shiqi Zhang, Guiding Robot Exploration in Reinforcement Learning via Automated Planning, International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling (ICAPS), 2021
- Yuqian Jiang, Fangkai Yang, Shiqi Zhang, and Peter Stone, Task-Motion Planning with Reinforcement Learning for Adaptable Mobile Service Robots, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2019
Action Knowledge for Reinforcement Learning
Task and Motion Planning
-
Task and Motion Planning with Learning
- Xiaohan Zhang, Yifeng Zhu, Yan Ding, Yuke Zhu, Peter Stone, and Shiqi Zhang, Visually Grounded Task and Motion Planning for Mobile Manipulation, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2022
- Yan Ding, Xiaohan Zhang, Xingyue Zhan, and Shiqi Zhang, Learning to Ground Objects for Robot Task and Motion Planning, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2022
- Yan Ding, Xiaohan Zhang, Xingyue Zhan, and Shiqi Zhang, Task-Motion Planning for Safe and Efficient Urban Driving, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2020
- Shih-Yun Lo, Shiqi Zhang, and Peter Stone, The PETLON Algorithm to Plan Efficiently for Task-Level-Optimal Navigation, Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research (JAIR), 2020
Task and Motion Planning for Navigation
Human-Robot Interaction
-
Human-Robot Collaboration using Augmented Reality
- Kishan Chandan, Jack Albertson, and Shiqi Zhang, Augmented Reality Visualizations using Imitation Learning for Collaborative Warehouse Robots, International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), 2022
- Kishan Chandan, Vidisha Kudalkar, Xiang Li, and Shiqi Zhang, ARROCH: Augmented Reality for Robots Collaborating with a Human, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2021
- Saeid Amiri, Sujay Bajracharya, Cihangir Goktolga, Jesse Thomason, and Shiqi Zhang, Augmenting Knowledge through Statistical, Goal-oriented Human-Robot Dialog, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2019
- Shiqi Zhang and Peter Stone, CORPP: Commonsense Reasoning and Probabilistic Planning, as Applied to Dialog with a Mobile Robot, In proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), 2015
Human-Robot Dialog Systems
Group Members
Interested in joining the group? Please read this before contacting the lab director.
Graduate Students
Jake Juettner
MS/PhD Student, Since Fall 2025
Furui Xiao
MS Student, Since Fall 2024
Mason Tipton
MS Student (Thesis), Since Fall 2025
Ph.D. Alumni (with Dissertation Topics)
Yohei Hayamizu (PhD, May 2026)
"Spatially and Socially Grounded Communication for Human-Robot Collaboration with Trust and Rapport"Website: https://yoheihayamizu.github.io/yhayamizu/
After Binghamton:
Representative publications:
-
From Woofs to Words: Towards Intelligent Robotic Guide Dogs with Verbal Communication (AAAI, 2026)
Learning Joint Policies for Human-Robot Dialog and Co-Navigation (IROS, 2023)
David DeFazio (PhD, December 2024)
"Legged Locomotion and Collaborative Decision Making in Human-Robot Teams"Website: https://sites.google.com/view/daviddefazio/
After Binghamton: Machine Learning Engineer, CoVar Applied Technologies, Durham NC
Representative publications:
-
Learning Quadruped Locomotion Policies using Logical Rules (ICAPS, 2024)
Seeing-Eye Quadruped Navigation with Force Responsive Locomotion Control (CoRL, 2023)
Xiaohan Zhang (PhD, May 2024)
"Symbol Grounding for Task and Motion Planning in Robotics"PhD Excellence Research Award, Computer Science in 2024, SUNY Binghamton
Website: https://keke-220.github.io/
After Binghamton: Scientist, Boston Dynamics AI Institute
Representative publications:
-
Symbolic State Space Optimization for Long Horizon Mobile Manipulation Planning (IROS, 2023)
Multimodal Embodied Attribute Learning by Robots for Object-Centric Action Policies (AuRo, 2023)
Yan Ding (PhD, May 2024)
"Task and Motion Planning for Robots in Open Worlds"PhD Excellence Research Award, Computer Science in 2024, SUNY Binghamton
Website: https://yding25.com/
After Binghamton: Researcher, Shanghai AI Lab
Current: Founder, VP, OneStar Robotics
Representative publications:
-
Integrating Action Knowledge and LLMs for Task Planning and Situation Handling in Open Worlds (AuRo, 2023)
Task and Motion Planning with Large Language Models for Object Rearrangement (IROS, 2023)
Kishan Chandan (PhD, May 2023)
"Bridging the Observability Gap: Augmented Reality Policies for Human Robot Collaboration"Website: https://kishanchandan.github.io/
After Binghamton: Postdoctoral Scientist, Amazon Robotics
Representative publications:
-
Learning Visualization Policies of Augmented Reality for Human-Robot Collaboration (CoRL, 2022)
ARROCH: Augmented Reality for Robots Collaborating with a Human (ICRA, 2021)
Saeid Amiri (PhD, May 2022)
"Knowledge-based Robot Sequential Decision-Making under Partial Observability"PhD Excellence Research Award, Computer Science in 2022, SUNY Binghamton
Website: https://astrosaeed.github.io/
After Binghamton: Research Scientist, JP Morgan AI Research
Representative publications:
-
Reasoning with Scene Graphs for Robot Planning under Partial Observability (RA-L, 2022)
Learning and Reasoning for Robot Sequential Decision Making under Uncertainty (AAAI, 2020)
Master's Alumni (with Thesis Topics)
Mason Tipton (Master's, May 2026)
"RoSSDaV: ROBOTIC SYSTEM (FOR) SPEAKER DIARIZATION AND VERIFICATION"After Binghamton: Ph.D. Student, Binghamton University
Austine Oloo (Master's, December 2025)
"VLM-Grounded Task and Motion Planning With Uncertainty Aware Active Perception"After Binghamton: Ph.D. Student, Binghamton University
Representative publications:
Jake Juettner (Master's, December 2025)
"Overhead Obstacle Avoidance and Verbal Communication for Navigation in Robotic Guide Dog Systems"After Binghamton:
Cheng Cui (Master's, December 2021)
"Learning to Reason about Contextual Knowledge for Planning under Uncertainty"After Binghamton: Software Engineer, Cognex
Representative publications:
Undergraduate Students
Matthew Tang
Undergraduate Student
Publications
Earlier papers: http://www.cs.binghamton.edu/~szhang/papers.html
-
Zainab Altaweel, Mohaiminul Al Nahian, Jake Juettner, Adnan Siraj Rakin, Shiqi Zhang
PROTEA: Securing Robot Task Planning and Execution
The IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2026 [Project webpage] -
Austine Oloo, Zainab Altaweel, Yohei Hayamizu, Peiqi Liu, Yan Ding, Saeid Amiri, Hao Yang, Andy Kaminski, Chad Esselink, Chris Paxton, Xiaohan Zhang, Shiqi Zhang
Robot Planning and Situation Handling with Active Perception
The IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2026 [Project webpage]
Best Paper Award from the 2026 IROS Workshop on Full-Shift Robot Co-Workers -
Yohei Hayamizu*, Tongxu Ai*, Ting Hou, Guangliang Li, Shiqi Zhang
Warming-up and Shaping Robot Policy Learning with Large Language Model-Based Critic Feedback
The IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2026 [Project webpage] -
Mohaiminul Al Nahian*, Zainab Altaweel*, David Reitano, Sabbir Ahmed, Shiqi Zhang, Adnan Siraj Rakin
MuTRAP: Multi-trigger Trojans Attacking Robot Task Planning Systems
The IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2026 [Project webpage] -
Yusong Jin, Hao Jiang, Feng Wu, Keke Tang, Shiqi Zhang, Xiaoping Chen
A Fully Pneumatic Soft Manipulator with Proximally Generated, Body-Transmitted Roll for Closed-Loop 6-DoF Pose Regulation
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2026 -
Stephanie Tulk Jesso, Ann Fronczek, Amy Booth, Joseph Trombetta, Mehmet Yildirim, Negin Esmaeili, Shiqi Zhang, Sean Dolan, Michael Difabio, Anemone Kasasbeh, Kayla Velie, Sreenath Chalil Madathil, Christopher Alderman, Sumantra Sarkar
Co-Designing Mobile Clinics to Address “Last Mile” Healthcare Barriers for Underserved Populations: A Human-Centered Design Study
JMIR Human Factors, 2026 -
Yohei Hayamizu*, David DeFazio*, Hrudayangam Mehta*, Zainab Altaweel, Jacqueline Choe, Chao Lin, Jake Juettner, Furui Xiao, Jeremy Blackburn, Shiqi Zhang
From Woofs to Words: Towards Intelligent Robotic Guide Dogs with Verbal Communication
The Fortieth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), 2026 [AAAI Official; Project webpage; Demo 1; Demo 2]
2026
-
Xiaohan Zhang*, Yan Ding*, Yohei Hayamizu*, Zainab Altaweel*, Yifeng Zhu, Yuke Zhu, Peter Stone, Chris Paxton, Shiqi Zhang
LLM-GROP: Visually Grounded Robot Task and Motion Planning with Large Language Models
International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR), 2025 [Sage Official; Project webpage] -
Kai Gao*, Zhaxizhuoma*, Yan Ding, Shiqi Zhang, Jingjin Yu
ORLA*: Mobile Manipulator-Based Object Rearrangement with Lazy A*
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automa- tion (ICRA), 2025 [IEEE Official; Project webpage] -
David DeFazio*, Hrudayangam Mehta*, Meng Wang*, Ping Yang, Jeremy Blackburn, Shiqi Zhang
Vision Language Models Can Parse Floor Plan Maps
The ELSP Journal of Robot Learning, 2025 [ELSP Official; Project webpage] -
Xiaohan Zhang, Zainab Altaweel*, Yohei Hayamizu*, Yan Ding, Saeid Amiri, Hao Yang, Andy Kaminski, Chad Esselink, Shiqi Zhang
DKPrompt: Domain Knowledge Prompting Vision-Language Models for Open-World Planning
The AAAI Workshop on Planning in the Era of LLMs, 2025
2025
-
David DeFazio, Yohei Hayamizu, and Shiqi Zhang
Learning Quadruped Locomotion Policies using Logical Rules
The International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling (ICAPS), 2024 [Project webpage] -
Arjun Majumdar*, Anurag Ajay*, Xiaohan Zhang*, and others (*Equal Contribution)
OpenEQA: Embodied Question Answering in the Era of Foundation Models
The IEEE/CVF Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Conference (CVPR), 2024 [Meta Blog; Project webpage] -
Issei Saito, Tomoaki Nakamura, Akira Taniguchi, Tadahiro Taniguchi, Yohei Hayamizu, and Shiqi Zhang
Emergence of Continuous Signals as Shared Symbols Through Emergent Communication
IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), 2024 [IEEE Official] -
Chelsea Zou, Yan Ding, Kishan Chandan, and Shiqi Zhang
A Decision Framework for AR, Dialogue and Eye Gaze to Enhance Human-Robot Collaboration
The ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction (HRI) Late Breaking Reports, 2024 [ACM Official] -
Stephanie Tulk Jesso, Christopher Greene, Shiqi Zhang, and others
On the potential for human-centered, cognitively inspired AI to bridge the gap between optimism and reality for autonomous robotics in healthcare: a respectful critique
International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care, 2024 -
Zhigen Zhao, Shuo Chen, Yan Ding, Ziyi Zhou, Shiqi Zhang, Danfei Xu, Ye Zhao
A Survey of Optimization-based Task and Motion Planning: From Classical To Learning Approaches
IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics (TMECH), 2024 [IEEE Official] -
Shiqi Zhang, Piyush Khandelwal, and Peter Stone
iCORPP: Interleaved Commonsense Reasoning and Probabilistic Planning on Robots
Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS), 2024 [Elsevier Official]
2024
-
David DeFazio, Eisuke Hirota, and Shiqi Zhang
Seeing-Eye Quadruped Navigation with Force Responsive Locomotion Control
The Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL), 2023 [Project webpage]
-
Yan Ding*, Xiaohan Zhang*, Chris Paxton, and Shiqi Zhang (*Equal Contribution)
Task and Motion Planning with Large Language Models for Object Rearrangement
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots (IROS), 2023 [Project webpage] -
Yohei Hayamizu, Zhou Yu, and Shiqi Zhang
Learning Joint Policies for Human-Robot Dialog and Co-Navigation
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots (IROS), 2023 -
Xiaohan Zhang, Yifeng Zhu, Yan Ding, Yuqian Jiang, Yuke Zhu, Peter Stone, and Shiqi Zhang
Symbolic State Space Optimization for Long Horizon Mobile Manipulation Planning
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots (IROS), 2023 [Project webpage] -
Cheng Cui, Saeid Amiri, Yan Ding, Xingyue Zhan, and Shiqi Zhang
Learning to Reason about Contextual Knowledge for Planning under Uncertainty
The Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI), 2023 -
Bo Liu*, Yuqian Jiang*, Xiaohan Zhang, Qiang Liu, Shiqi Zhang, Joydeep Biswas, and Peter Stone (*Equal Contribution)
LLM+P: Empowering Large Language Models with Optimal Planning Proficiency
arXiv, 2023 [Demo video] -
Yan Ding, Xiaohan Zhang, Saeid Amiri, Nieqing Cao, Hao Yang, Andy Kaminski, Chad Esselink, and Shiqi Zhang
Integrating Action Knowledge and LLMs for Task Planning and Situation Handling in Open Worlds
Autonomous Robots Journal (AURO), 2023 [Springer Nature Official; Project webpage] -
Xiaohan Zhang, Saeid Amiri, Jivko Sinapov, Jesse Thomason, Peter Stone, and Shiqi Zhang
Multimodal Embodied Attribute Learning by Robots for Object-Centric Action Policies
Autonomous Robots Journal (AURO), 2023 [Springer Nature Official; Project webpage] -
Mohammad Shokrolah Shirazi, Brendan Tran Morris, and Shiqi Zhang
Intersection Analysis Using Computer Vision Techniques with SUMO
Intelligent Transportation Infrastructure (ITI), 2023 [Oxford Academic Official]
2023
-
Xiaohan Zhang, Yifeng Zhu, Yan Ding, Yuke Zhu, Peter Stone, and Shiqi Zhang
Visually Grounded Task and Motion Planning for Mobile Manipulation
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2022 [Project webpage; IEEE Xplore Official] -
Yan Ding, Xiaohan Zhang, Xingyue Zhan, and Shiqi Zhang
Learning to Ground Objects for Robot Task and Motion Planning
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), Also presented at ICRA 2022 [Project webpage; RA-L Official] -
Saeid Amiri, Kishan Chandan, and Shiqi Zhang
Reasoning with Scene Graphs for Robot Planning under Partial Observability
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), Also presented at ICRA 2022 [Project webpage; RA-L Official] -
Kishan Chandan, Jack Albertson, and Shiqi Zhang
Learning Visualization Policies of Augmented Reality for Human-Robot Collaboration
The Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL), 2022 [Project webpage; PMLR Official; Live Demo]
-
Yan Cao, Keting Lu, David DeFazio, and Shiqi Zhang
Goal-oriented Vision-and-Dialog Navigation through Reinforcement Learning
The Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP Findings), Short Paper, 2022 [ACL Official] -
Haodi Zhang, Zhichao Zeng, Keting Lu, Kaishun Wu, and Shiqi Zhang
Efficient Dialog Policy Learning by Reasoning with Contextual Knowledge
The AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), 2022 [AAAI Official] -
Shiqi Zhang, and Mohan Sridharan
A Survey of Knowledge-based Sequential Decision Making under Uncertainty
AI Magazine, 2022 [Video Summary; AAAI Official]
There was a 2019 AAAI Tutorial on the same topic: webpage
2022
-
Kishan Chandan, Jack Albertson, Xiaohan Zhang, Xiaoyang Zhang, Yao Liu, and Shiqi Zhang
Learning to Guide Human Attention on Mobile Telepresence Robots with 360 Vision
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2021 [Project webpage] -
Xiaohan Zhang, Jivko Sinapov, and Shiqi Zhang
Planning Multimodal Exploratory Actions for Online Robot Attribute Learning
The Robotics Science and System Conference (RSS), 2021 [Official; Talk video; Poster; Project webpage] -
Kishan Chandan, Vidisha Kudalkar, Xiang Li, and Shiqi Zhang
ARROCH: Augmented Reality for Robots Collaborating with a Human
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2021 [Official; Demo video; Talk video; Slides; Project webpage] -
Yohei Hayamizu, Saeid Amiri, Kishan Chandan, Keiki Takadama, and Shiqi Zhang
Guiding Robot Exploration in Reinforcement Learning via Automated Planning
International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling (ICAPS), 2021 [Official; Poster; Demo video] -
Hao Yang, Tavan Eftekhar, Chad Esselink, Yan Ding, and Shiqi Zhang
Task and Situation Structures for Case-based Planning
International Conference on Case-Based Reasoning Research and Development (ICCBR), 2021 [Official, Talk video] -
Keting Lu, Yan Cao, Xiaoping Chen, and Shiqi Zhang
Efficient Dialog Policy Learning with Hindsight, User Modeling, and Adaptation
IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems (TCDS), 2021 [IEEE Official]
2021
-
Yan Ding, Xiaohan Zhang, Xingyue Zhan, and Shiqi Zhang
Task-Motion Planning for Safe and Efficient Urban Driving
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2020 [Demo video; Project webpage] -
Saeid Amiri, Mohammad S. Shirazi, and Shiqi Zhang
Learning and Reasoning for Robot Sequential Decision Making under Uncertainty
The Thirty-Fourth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), 2020 [Demo video; Official] -
Yan Cao, Keting Lu, Xiaoping Chen, and Shiqi Zhang
Adaptive Dialog Policy Learning with Hindsight and User Modeling
The Annual Meeting of the Special Interest Group on Discourse and Dialogue (SIGDIAL), 2020 [Official; Talk video] -
Keting Lu, Shiqi Zhang, Peter Stone, and Xiaoping Chen
Learning and Reasoning for Robot Dialog and Navigation Tasks
The Annual Meeting of the Special Interest Group on Discourse and Dialogue (SIGDIAL), 2020 [Official; Talk video] -
Shih-Yun Lo, Shiqi Zhang, and Peter Stone
The PETLON Algorithm to Plan Efficiently for Task-Level-Optimal Navigation
Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research (JAIR), Conference Award Track, 2020 [Official] -
Yohei Hayamizu, Saeid Amiri, Kishan Chandan, Shiqi Zhang, and Keiki Takadama
Exploration Strategy for Model-based Reinforcement Learning with Automated Planning
Forum on Information Technology, 2020 [Official in Japanese; Full paper published at ICAPS-21]
2020
- Saeid Amiri, Sujay Bajracharya, Cihangir Goktolga, Jesse Thomason, and Shiqi Zhang
Augmenting Knowledge through Statistical, Goal-oriented Human-Robot Dialog
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2019 [Demo video; Media] - Yuqian Jiang, Fangkai Yang, Shiqi Zhang, and Peter Stone
Task-Motion Planning with Reinforcement Learning for Adaptable Mobile Service Robots
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2019 [Demo video] -
Keting Lu, Shiqi Zhang, and Xiaoping Chen
Goal-oriented Dialogue Policy Learning from Failures
The Thirty-Third AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), 2019 [Official version; Code] - Yi Wang, Shiqi Zhang, and Joohyung Lee
Bridging Commonsense Reasoning and Probabilistic Planning via a Probabilistic Action Language
International Conference on Logic Programming (ICLP), Published in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (TPLP), 2019 [Official version] -
Yuqian Jiang, Harel Yedidsion, Shiqi Zhang, Guni Sharon, and Peter Stone
Multi-Robot Planning with Conflicts and Synergies
Autonomous Robots Journal (AURO), 2019 [Demo video; AAMAS-2017 paper; Official version] - Mohan Sridharan, Michael Gelfond, Shiqi Zhang, and Jeremy Wyatt
REBA: a Refinement-Based Architecture for Knowledge Representation and Reasoning in Robotics
Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research (JAIR), 2019 [Official version] - Yuqian Jiang, Shiqi Zhang, Piyush Khandelwal, and Peter Stone
Task Planning in Robotics: an Empirical Comparison of PDDL- and ASP-based Systems
Frontiers of Information Technology and Electronic Engineering (FITEE), Special Issue on Intelligent Robots, 2019 [Official version]
2019
- Shih-Yun Lo, Shiqi Zhang, and Peter Stone
PETLON: Planning Efficiently for Task-Level-Optimal Navigation
The International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), 2018
Best Robotics Paper Award
- Saeid Amiri, Suhua Wei, Shiqi Zhang, Jivko Sinapov, Jesse Thomason, and Peter Stone
Multi-modal Predicate Identification using Dynamically Learned Robot Controllers
The International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI), 2018 - Christopher Amato, Haitham Bou Ammar, Elizabeth Churchill, Erez Karpas, Takashi Kido, Mike Kuniavsky, WF Lawless, Francesca Rossi, Frans A Oliehoek, Stephen Russell, Keiki Takadama, Siddharth Srivastava, Karl Tuyls, Philip Van Allen, K Brent Venable, Peter Vrancx, and Shiqi Zhang
Reports on the 2018 AAAI Spring Symposium Series
AI Magazine, 2018
2018
Outreach and Education Activities
Media Coverage
Selected news articles and public media coverage of AIR Group research.
Panel Discussions
- Panelist, “AI across New York: The Empire State's Intelligence: Mapping New York’s AI Future”
SUNY AI Symposium, Stony Brook University, April 14, 2026 — Read / Watch / Listen - Panelist, “The Freshman Research Immersion (FRI) Faculty Panel Event,”
Smart Energy and Signals Analysis Streams, SUNY Binghamton, November 11, 2019 - Panelist, “AI, We Come In Peace: a Practical Discussion on the Impact of AI in our Communities,”
Northeast Ohio (NEO) Chapter of ACM, Youngstown State University, Youngstown OH. September 14, 2017 — Read / Watch / Listen
TV Interviews
- Global Business, CGTN Europe, August 14, 2025
“How Can Humanoid Robots Fill the Labor Gap?" — Read / Watch / Listen - Global Business, CGTN Europe, July 18, 2024
“China's Robotic Guide Dog" — Read / Watch / Listen - Spectrum News, November 15, 2023
“Students develop robotic guide dog to meet growing needs” — Read / Watch / Listen - FOX 40 News (WICZ), aired on October 27, 2023
“BU PhD Program Working on Robot Guide Dog” — Read / Watch / Listen - Spectrum News 1, aired on February 21, 2023
“Binghamton University students developing new robotic technology” — Read / Watch / Listen - NewsChannel 34, aired on Friday, October 29, 2021
“Robot dog hands out candy on Binghamton University campus” — Read / Watch / Listen - FOX 40 News (WICZ), aired on Friday, October 29 2021
“BU's Computer Science Department Hands Out Candy Via Robotic Dog” — Read / Watch / Listen
Podcasts
- Reflections by Grant Hardy (AMI, Accessible Media Inc), August 6, 2026
“Rethinking Navigation for the Blind: Robotic Guide Dogs" — Read / Watch / Listen - Truetalks by Jaylin Man / Darian Pan, September 7, 2025
“He's the reason why your phone auto-rotates.. ft. Shiqi Zhang" — Read / Watch / Listen
Press Coverage
- All About Vision, September 15, 2026
“How AI-powered robot guide dogs could change mobility for people with vision impairment" — Read / Watch / Listen - Thomas For Industry, May 18, 2026
“How to Teach an AI Robotic Guide Dog New Tricks" — Read / Watch / Listen - heise online, April 20, 2026
“The talking robot guide dog also has plenty to tell as a tour guide. (Article in German)" — Read / Watch / Listen - Association for Advancing Automation (A3), April 17, 2026
“LLMs Help Robot Guide Dogs Give Spoken Directions" — Read / Watch / Listen - TechEBlog, April 17, 2026
“AI-Enhanced Robotic Guide Dog Talks You Through Every Step” — Read / Watch / Listen - World Unique Creativity Academy, April 15, 2026
“AI-Powered Robotic Guide Dogs: A New direction for assistive mobility” — Read / Watch / Listen - Knowridge Science Report, April 14, 2026
“This robotic guide dog could talk and lead safely” — Read / Watch / Listen - Earth.com, April 13, 2026
“AI-powered robotic guide dog that talks could become alternative to service animals” — Read / Watch / Listen - Digitec, April 13, 2026
“Guide dog 2.0: This robot talks and guides you to your destination” — Read / Watch / Listen - SaudiShopper, April 12, 2026
“Binghamton University Develops Talking Robotic Guide Dog Using GPT-4 for Visually Impaired Users” — Read / Watch / Listen - T3: Smarter Living, April 12, 2026
“Robot dogs powered by AI to guide blind people? Yup, they're a thing now” — Read / Watch / Listen - The Robot Report, April 12, 2026
“Binghamton researchers create robotic guide dogs that walk — and talk” — Read / Watch / Listen - International Business Times, April 11, 2026
“Talking Robot Guide Dog Could Replace Human Companions, More So for Senior Citizens" — Read / Watch / Listen - Cybernews, April 11, 2026
“This AI guide dog can talk to their owner – but can it replace a real thing?” — Read / Watch / Listen - New Atlas, April 10, 2026
“Speak! Robot guide dogs converse with their owners” — Read / Watch / Listen - Joy Pup, April 10, 2026
“Scientists have created a guide dog robot that communicates with people” — Read / Watch / Listen - NewsBytes, April 10, 2026
“Shiqi Zhang trained GPT-4 robotic guide dogs aiding blind users” — Read / Watch / Listen - Let's Data Science, April 10, 2026
“Binghamton Robot Dog Uses GPT-4 to Guide Visually Impaired” — Read / Watch / Listen - Yahoo Tech, April 09, 2026
“Visually Impaired Users Tested a Talking Robot Dog – The Results Will Blow Your Mind” — Read / Watch / Listen - Gadget Review, April 09, 2026
“Visually Impaired Users Tested a Talking Robot Dog – The Results Will Blow Your Mind” — Read / Watch / Listen - StudyFinds, April 09, 2026
“A Talking Robot Guide Dog Could Change How Visually Impaired People Navigate” — Read / Watch / Listen - The Engineer, April 09, 2026
“AI robotic guide dog uses speech to aid navigation” — Read / Watch / Listen - The Brighter Side of News, April 09, 2026
“Talking robot guide dog uses AI to describe the world as it leads” — Read / Watch / Listen - Engineering and Technology Magazine, April 09, 2026
“Talking robot dog could help to ease shortage of guide dogs for the blind” — Read / Watch / Listen - National Today, April 09, 2026
“Talking Robot Guide Dog Aces Tests with Visually Impaired Users” — Read / Watch / Listen - National Today, April 09, 2026
“Binghamton University Researchers Develop Talking Robot Guide Dogs” — Read / Watch / Listen - Digital Trends, April 09, 2026
“This robotic dog talks with ChatGPT magic and guides the visually impaired” — Read / Watch / Listen - Interesting Engineering, April 08, 2026
“AI-powered robotic guide dog uses voice to guide visually impaired users in real time” — Read / Watch / Listen - BingUNews, April 08, 2026
“These AI-powered guide dogs don’t just lead – they talk” — Read / Watch / Listen - WRGB Albany News, March 17, 2026
“SUNY researchers showcase innovation to win support for expanded state funding” — Read / Watch / Listen - BingUNews, June 23, 2025
“How Watson College is helping to lead the robotics revolution" — Read / Watch / Listen - Communications of the ACM, February 25, 2025
“Guide Dogs are Expensive and Scarce. Could Robots Do Their Job? People with sight loss could soon be getting some very unfurry friends.” — Read / Watch / Listen - Health Tech World, July 11, 2024
“Researchers find better way to detect when older adults fall at home” — Read / Watch / Listen - BingUNews, June 26, 2024
“Researchers find better way to detect when older adults fall at home” — Read / Watch / Listen - The New Republic, April 4, 2024
“How Disabled People Get Exploited to Build the Technology of War” — Read / Watch / Listen - Popular Science, March 11, 2024
“Can this robot help solve a guide dog shortage?” — Read / Watch / Listen - American National Standards Institute (ANSI), February 28, 2024
“A New Wave of Robotics Supports Lifeguards, Food Banks, and the Visually Impaired” — Read / Watch / Listen - Drone Blocks (Blog Articles), February 21, 2024
“How Quadrupeds are Pioneering Advances for the Visually Impaired” — Read / Watch / Listen - WIRED Middle East, February 16, 2024
“Good bot! This robotic seeing-eye dog will guide the visually impaired” — Read / Watch / Listen - Yahoo News, February 9, 2024
“Guest Viewpoint: Engineers Week celebrates amazing tech at BU and around the world” — Read / Watch / Listen - Vision Ireland, November 24, 2023
“AI and the future of Mobility technology for people with sight loss” — Read / Watch / Listen - Global Spec, November 22, 2023
“Binghamton team develops robotic seeing-eye dog” — Read / Watch / Listen - TS2 Space, November 15, 2023
“Innovative Robotic Guide Dogs: A Vision for the Future” — Read / Watch / Listen - Government Technology, November 14, 2023
“Binghamton University Researchers Build Robotic Guide Dogs” — Read / Watch / Listen - TechandTron Magazine, November 8, 2023
“Assistive Robotics: A beacon of independence for visual impairment” — Read / Watch / Listen - Robotics and Automation Magazine, November 6, 2023
“Researchers adapt quadruped into robotic guide dog” — Read / Watch / Listen - TS2 Space, November 2, 2023
“New Robot Technology Provides Enhanced Mobility for the Visually Impaired” — Read / Watch / Listen - Futurism, November 2, 2023
“Scientists Create Robotic Seeing Eye Dog: IT CAN EVEN RESPOND TO TUGGING AT THE LEASH.” — Read / Watch / Listen - Yahoo News, November 2, 2023
“Scientists Create Robotic Seeing-Eye Dog” — Read / Watch / Listen - TS2 Space, November 1, 2023
“Robotic Dogs: A Technological Alternative for the Visually Impaired” — Read / Watch / Listen - The Daily Beast, November 01, 2023
“Scientists Have Created a Robotic Seeing Eye Dog” — Read / Watch / Listen - Commonwealth Union, November 01, 2023
“Robotic Eye Dog To Help” — Read / Watch / Listen - Communications of the ACM, October 31, 2023
“Computer Scientists Program Robotic Seeing-Eye Dog” — Read / Watch / Listen - News Atlas, October 31, 2023
“Quadruped robots may one day give seeing-eye dogs a run for their money” — Read / Watch / Listen - Inceptive Mind, October 31, 2023
“Engineers train robotic seeing-eye dog to assist the visually impaired” — Read / Watch / Listen - Interesting Engineering, October 31, 2023
“Engineers create a robotic eye-seeing dog to aid the visually impaired” — Read / Watch / Listen - IoT World Today, October 31, 2023
“Seeing Eye Robot Dog Debuts at Binghamton University” — Read / Watch / Listen - Tech Times, October 31, 2023
“Robot Guide Dog Responding to Tugs on Its Leash Could Help Blind and Visually Impaired People” — Read / Watch / Listen - Bollyinside News, October 28, 2023
“Binghamton Engineers Develop Robotic Seeing-Eye Dog to Enhance Accessibility for Visually Impaired” — Read / Watch / Listen - BingUNews, October 27, 2023
“Binghamton computer scientists program robotic seeing-eye dog to guide the visually impaired" — Read / Watch / Listen - WBNG, aired on October 26, 2023
“Binghamton University brings new research to robot seeing-eye dog” — Read / Watch / Listen - BingUNews, December 19, 2022
“Research improves robot/human relations using augmented reality” — Read / Watch / Listen - BingUNews, June 24, 2022
“Researchers at Watson College creating machines that think” — Read / Watch / Listen - Robotics 24/7, October 2021
“AR for human-robot collaboration” — Read / Watch / Listen - BingUNews, July 8, 2021
“New augmented-reality system changes how humans and robots interact” — Read / Watch / Listen - BingUNews, October 5, 2020
“Binghamton researchers blend different AI systems for better autonomous driving” — Read / Watch / Listen - BingUNews, June 22, 2020
“Robots that can learn? Watson professor is working on it” — Read / Watch / Listen - Tech Xplore, July 18, 2019
“Human-Robot Dialog” — Read / Watch / Listen - UT Austin Computer Science News, September 13, 2018
“Lo, Zhang, and Stone Win Best Paper Award for Task Planning in Robots” — Read / Watch / Listen
Contact Information
Lab Address on Campus
N09, Engineering Building (3rd floor)
Delivery Address
Department of Computer Science
Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science
The State University of New York (SUNY) at Binghamton
4400 Vestal Parkway East
Binghamton, NY 13902-6000
Please check the lab director's personal homepage for email/phone information.