Keynote Speakers

Julie A. Adams

Dr. Adams is the founder of the Human-Machine Teaming Laboratory and the Associate Director of Research of the Collaborative Robotics and Intelligent Systems (CoRIS) Institute. Adams has focused on human-machine teaming and distributed artificial intelligence for thirty-five years. Throughout her career she has focused on unmanned systems, but also focused on crewed civilian and military aircraft at Honeywell, Inc. and commercial, consumer and industrial systems at the Eastman Kodak Company.

Her research, which is grounded in robotics applications for domains such as first response, archaeology, oceanography, and the U.S. military, focuses on distributed artificial intelligence, swarms, robotics and human-machine teaming. Dr. Adams is an NSF CAREER award recipient, a Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Fellow as well as a member of the National Academies Board on Army Research and Development and the DARPA Information Science and Technology Study Group.


Randy Gomez

Dr. Gomez is the Chief Scientist at the Honda Research Institute Japan, where he spearheads the Embodied Communication Research Group. His work focuses on advancing the synergy between communication and interaction to design robotic systems that foster meaningful human-robot experiences with a positive impact on society. His fields of interest include:

Hardware Design of Interactive Robots – Creating innovative robotic platforms with advanced physical and sensory capabilities to enhance interaction.

Sensorial Networks and Group Dynamics – Investigating how robots can mediate and navigate social environments to foster understanding in a group.

Robotic Applications for Social, Emotional, and Cultural Contexts – Harnessing the potential of robots as transformative tools to address diverse societal challenges.


Yolande Strengers

Dr. Strengers is Professor of Digital Technology and Society in the Emerging Technologies Research Lab at Monash University where she leads the Energy Futures program. Her work spans the fields of digital sociology, human-computer interaction design, and science and technology studies.

Yolande’s research investigates how home robots, smart technologies and AI are changing how we live, with a focus on their energy, sustainability, health and equity outcomes. Her research is renowned for its applied outcomes, with project partners include Intel Corporation, ANZ Bank, energy businesses, consumer advocacy organisations, and government departments and agencies. In 2023 she was awarded an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship on home helper robots and our emerging relationships with human-like AI, which she will begin mid-2025. She is also leading a large industry project funded under the Reliable Affordable and Clean Energy Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) focused on scenarios for future living and their implications for energy demand.

Yolande holds a PhD in Social Science (RMIT University) with scholarships from the Australasian CRC for Interaction Design and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, a Masters of International Urban and Environmental Management (RMIT University) and a Bachelor of Arts (Monash University). Her published books include The Smart Wife (MIT Press, 2020), Smart Energy Technologies in Everyday Life (Palgrave Macmillan 2013), Design Ethnography (Routledge 2022), Social Practices and Dynamic Non-Humans (Palgrave Macmillan 2019) and Social Practices, Intervention and Sustainability (Routledge 2015). In 2021 she won the Women in AI ANZ Award for Innovation and a B&T Women Leading Tech 2021 Award for Education & Research for her work on anthropomorphised AI and its equity implications.


ACM Athena Lecture

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) named Maja Matarić the 2024-2025 ACM Athena Lecturer, an award that celebrates women researchers who have made fundamental contributions to Computer Science. The award includes presenting the Athena Lecture at one of the major ACM conferences, and we are thrilled to announce that Prof. Matarić will deliver her ACM Athena Lecture at HRI 2025!

Maja Matarić

Maja Matarić is a Chaired and Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, with appointments in Neuroscience and Pediatrics, at the University of Southern California and Principal Scientist at Google DeepMind. She holds a PhD and MS in Computer Science and AI from MIT, and a BS in Computer Science from the University of Kansas. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of AAAS, IEEE, AAAI, and ACM.  She received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics & Engineering Mentoring from President Obama, and the Anita Borg Institute Women of Vision, ACM Athena Lecture, NSF Career, MIT TR35 Innovation, and IEEE RAS Early Career Awards.  She is the author of the popular “The Robotics Primer” (MIT Press). A pioneer of socially assistive robotics, her research is developing human-machine interaction methods for user and interaction modeling and adaptation that enable personalized support for users with differences, including autism, anxiety, depression, stroke, and dementia. Her Interaction Lab at USC is known for conducting some of the earliest and longest in-the-wild studies with users across the age and ability span.