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Ruchen (Puck) Wen is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Interactive Robotics and Language (IRAL) lab at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is co-advised by Dr. Cynthia Matuszek and Dr. Francis Ferraro. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science at the Colorado School of Mines, advised by Dr. Tom Williams. Her research focuses on robot ethics and linguistic human-robot interaction. Her research goal is to develop morally and socially competent robots that can exert positive influence and help preserve a better moral ecosystem between humans and robots.
With the increasing integration of social robots into everyday contexts, the challenge of ensuring natural and fluid interaction with humans has become critical. This involves developing robots capable of natural interaction consistent with social conventions. Meanwhile, language-capable robots hold unique persuasive power over their human interactants, which offers exciting opportunities to encourage pro-social behavior. However, these capabilities also come with risks, particularly in regards to the potential for robots to accidentally harm human norm systems. Therefore, it is not only important to enable social robots with moral and social competence, but also to investigate the impact that these robots have on humans to facilitate the successful integration of robots into human society. As a human-robot interaction (HRI) researcher, my work encompasses two distinct areas. The first involves developing context-sensitive computational approaches to enhance robots' abilities to understand human intentions and generate responses in an ethically and socially adaptive manner. The second focuses on conducting empirical studies and proposing design guidelines aimed at improving the interaction between humans and robots. My research provides a foundation for the development of socially interactive robots that promote positive moral and social influence, underscore responsible design practices, and have the potential to create more effective and culturally sensitive robotic systems for better human-robot ecosystems.