UVA Computer Scientist Wins NSF CAREER Award to Help Robots Understand Human Behavior
As automation becomes more integrated into daily life, University of Virginia computer scientist Yen-Ling Kuo is working to make robots better social partners. With a prestigious NSF CAREER Award and a five-year, $665,000 grant, Kuo aims to equip robots with the ability to understand not just words but also gestures, intentions, and unspoken cues that drive human behavior.
An assistant professor and Anita Jones Faculty Fellow in UVA Engineering’s Department of Computer Science, Kuo is bridging artificial intelligence and cognitive science to help robots reason, communicate, and collaborate like humans. “We want robots that can adapt, infer intentions, and respond to social cues — making them truly helpful partners in real-world settings,” she said.
Working in UVA’s Link Lab, Kuo and her team develop computational models that interpret a range of human signals, from speech to gaze and motion. Her research explores how shared understanding, social reasoning, and "theory of mind" — the ability to infer what others know or intend — can improve human-robot collaboration in environments like homes, hospitals, and public spaces.
The CAREER Award will also support Kuo’s work in advancing shared mental models between humans and robots and mentoring the next generation of AI researchers. Her accolades include the 2025 IEEE Women in Robotics and Automation Early Career Contribution Award, an Outstanding Paper Award at the 2024 ACL Conference, and a Toyota Research Institute grant.
Before joining UVA in 2023, Kuo earned her Ph.D. from MIT, with a minor in cognitive science, and worked at Google and the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab.