Hui-Ru (Irene) Ho | Department of Computer Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison

About Me

I am currently a PhD student from the People and Robots Laboratory in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I am currently advised by Dr. Bilge Mutlu.

My research centers on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) and Embodied AI. I study how to design embodied AI agents that interact with people in responsible and socially appropriate ways, which includes adapting to how people interact, empowering people’s capabilities, and meeting their expectations for safety. I am interested in using large language models, multimodal inputs and outputs, and environmental context to develop interaction paradigms for human-centered robotic systems. In particular, I focus on household settings, using methods such as field deployment, prototype development, and experimental design.

In summer 2026, I was an Applied Scientist Intern II at Amazon (Fauna Robotics), where I used simulation to develop interaction strategies for household robots’ long-horizon task learning, planning, and execution.

Before I join this PhD program, I earned my dual Master’s degree in both Computer Science (May 2023) and Educational Psychology (Dec 2023) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I was gratefully supervised by Dr. Edward Hubbard, the director of the Educational Neuroscience Laboratory in the Department of Educational Psychology. In addition, I earned my Bachaler’s degree from the Department of Psychology (May 2019) at National Taiwan University.

News

[Oct. 2026] I finished my internship as an Applied Scientist at Amazon (Fauna Robotics)!
[Sept. 2026] I am serving as the Lead Program Chair for HRI 2027 Pioneers Workshop.
[Jun. 2026] I started my internship as an Applied Scientist at Amazon (Fauna Robotics).
[Mar. 2026] One paper accepted to ACM IDC 2026
[Mar. 2026] One paper accepted to ACM DIS 2026
[Mar. 2026] Finished my visit in Singapore. Attended ACM/IEEE HRI 2026!
[Jan. 2026] Accepted to ACM/IEEE HRI 2026 Pioneers 🎖️
[Oct. 2025] Completed my PhD qualifying exam. I am grateful for the support from my committee members: Bilge Mutlu, Junjie Hu, and Vikas Singh

Selected Publications

CHI '25

SET-PAiREd: Designing for Parental Involvement in Learning with an AI-Assisted Educational Robot

Hui-Ru Ho, Nitigya Kargeti, Ziqi Liu, Bilge Mutlu

Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2025).

PDF DOI

CHI '24

It's Not a Replacement: Enabling Parent-Robot Collaboration to Support In-Home Learning Experiences of Young Children

Hui-Ru Ho, Edward Hubbard, Bilge Mutlu

Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2024). 🏅Honorable Mention Award

PDF DOI

IDC '23

Designing Parent-child-robot Interactions to Facilitate In-Home Parental Math Talk with Young Children

Hui-Ru Ho, Nathan White, Edward Hubbard, Bilge Mutlu

Proceedings of the Interaction Design and Children Conference (IDC 2023).

PDF DOI

IDC '21

RoboMath: Designing a Learning Companion Robot to Support Children’s Numerical Skills

Hui-Ru Ho, Bengisu Cagiltay, Nathan White, Edward Hubbard, Bilge Mutlu

Proceedings of the Interaction Design and Children Conference (IDC 2021).

PDF DOI