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About

Karthika Arumugam is a leading researcher at the intersection of Embodied AI (EAI) and Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), with a focus on making intelligent systems more accessible and interactive. Her major contributions center on developing user-centric platforms that bridge the gap between conversational AI and physical robotics. She is the driving force behind **Alexa Arena**, a groundbreaking simulation platform for EAI research that offers multi-room layouts and interactable objects, enabling the creation of realistic human-robot interaction missions. This work, alongside her introduction of the **first Alexa Prize SimBot Challenge**, has redefined how researchers prototype and evaluate embodied agents in multimodal environments. Her most-cited papers—including "Alexa Arena: A User-Centric Interactive Platform for Embodied AI" (3 citations) and "Alexa, play with robot: Introducing the First Alexa Prize SimBot Challenge on Embodied AI" (2 citations)—highlight her role in democratizing EAI research through user-friendly graphics and control mechanisms. By empowering university students to build conversational agents that can see, move, and act, Arumugam is shaping the future of assistive robotics and smart home technologies.