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About

Charles Rich is a pioneering researcher whose work sits at the intersection of human-robot interaction, artificial intelligence, and social computing. Best known for his landmark paper "Explorations in Engagement for Humans and Robots" (2005, 547 citations), Rich has fundamentally shaped how researchers think about the dynamics of social connection between people and machines. His sustained focus on **engagement**—how humans and robots mutually recognize, establish, and maintain interaction—produced a widely adopted computational model that analyzes connection events such as directed gaze, mutual facial gaze, and speech cues, with related publications accumulating over 300 additional citations. Rich's contributions extend beyond theoretical frameworks. He has advanced practical systems for robot learning, developing algorithms that enable robots to acquire complex hierarchical tasks from a single human demonstration. His later work addresses real-world social challenges, particularly in designing companionable virtual agents and robots to support isolated older adults at home. He has also contributed a systematic methodology for designing expressive robot facial emotions grounded in psychological research. Across more than a decade of prolific output, Rich's research consistently bridges rigorous technical innovation with deeply human concerns—making him a defining voice in socially intelligent robotics.