Travel: NSF Student Travel Grant for 2024 Human-Robot Interaction Pioneers Workshop (HRI)

The Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) conference is a selective venue that bridges robotics, human factors, artificial intelligence, and behavioral sciences to focus on designing smoother interactions with robots. Now in its nineteenth year, the 2024 HRI Pioneers Workshop (to be held March 11, 2024 in Boulder, CO) provides a forum for undergraduate and graduate students to present their work, learn about the current state of HRI, and network with one another and with select senior researchers in a relaxed and interactive setting associated with the conference. Workshop participants will discuss important issues and open challenges in the field, encouraging the formation of collaborative relationships across disciplines and geographic boundaries. Alumni from prior years of the workshop will be invited to participate in a forum with current attendees to further develop these professional relationships. This grant will provide travel support to about 15 students who otherwise have limited travel funding and so might not be able to attend. Criteria for selection include having the need for funding, the timing in the student's career, and the quality and fit of the application to conference topics. In alignment with the workshop's overall goal to bring together a variety of academic and industry researchers, the selection committee will also seek to fund students from a wide range of personal, professional, and institutional backgrounds, as well as topics within HRI. Participation in the proposed workshop will provide an opportunity for participants of diverse backgrounds to increase their knowledge of the current state of the field of human-robot interaction and further, to encourage the participants to continue their career as HRI researchers in academia, government, or industry. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.