Susan L. Epstein

About

Susan L. Epstein is a distinguished researcher whose work spans artificial intelligence, cognitive architectures, robot navigation, and human-robot interaction. Her foundational 1992 paper on memory and concepts in learning, her most cited work with 30 citations, established early insights into how learning systems can be structured around cognitive principles — a thread that runs throughout her career. Epstein is perhaps best known for developing the FORR cognitive architecture, which she applied innovatively to autonomous robot navigation and human-multi-robot team decision-making. Her HRTeam framework, explored across multiple publications between 2011 and 2013, created a structured environment for studying how humans and robot teams collaborate effectively, addressing challenges like mission selection and collision avoidance. Her later work pushed boundaries further, with contributions to crowd-sensitive path planning (2018), natural language explanations for robot behavior (2017), and cognitively-based spatial modeling for real-world indoor navigation (2015–2019). These efforts reflect a consistent commitment to making robots not only smarter, but more transparent and socially aware collaborators. With publications spanning nearly three decades and citations accumulating across a diverse body of work, Epstein's research offers valuable frameworks for students interested in intelligent systems, autonomous navigation, and the future of human-robot teamwork.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   The role of memory and concepts in learning

   30 citations · 1992
2. 2
   Designing the HRTeam Framework: Lessons Learned from a Rough-and-Ready Human/Multi-Robot Team

   15 citations · 2012
3. 3
   Learning Spatial Models for Navigation

   13 citations · 2015
4. 4
   Spatial representation for pragmatic navigation

   11 citations · 1997
5. 5
   Online Learning for Crowd-sensitive Path Planning

   10 citations · 2018
6. 6
   HRTeam: a framework to support research on human/multi-robot interaction

   7 citations · 2013
7. 7
   WHY: Natural Explanations from a Robot Navigator

   7 citations · 2017
8. 8
   Planning and Explanations with a Learned Spatial Model

   6 citations · 2019
9. 9
   A framework in which robots and humans help each other

   5 citations · 2011
10. 10
    Applying FORR to human/multi-robot teams

    5 citations · 2012

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links