Jiaying Wei
Papers
3
Total Citations
13
H-Index
2
About
Jiaying Wei is reshaping the future of construction through human-centered robotics. Her research sits at the intersection of AI, robotics, and the built environment, with a core focus on developing autonomous systems that collaborate with—rather than replace—human workers. Wei’s major contribution is pioneering the concept of the “work companion rover,” a reinforcement learning-driven robot designed to contextually assist carpenters on active building sites. By combining ethnographic fieldwork with technical design, she champions a “robot-in-the-loop” methodology that ensures technology adapts to the complex, variable nature of real construction work, not the other way around. Her most cited work, “Robot in the loop: a human-centered approach to contextualizing AI and robotics in construction” (2024, 7 citations), documents the multidisciplinary evaluation of a robot assisting carpentry crews in the United States, offering a tangible path toward safer, more efficient human-robot collaboration. With additional papers on reinforcement learning for contextual assistance (2024, 4 and 2 citations), Wei is establishing herself as a leading voice in human-centered construction robotics, challenging the industry to prioritize worker agency alongside automation.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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