Human behavior has been studied from many perspectives and at many scales. Psychology, sociology, anthropology, and neuroscience each use different methodologies, scope, and evaluation criteria to understand aspects of human behavior. Computer science, and in particular robotics, offers a complementary perspective on the study of human behavior.

Our research focuses on building embodied computational models of human social behavior, especially the developmental progression of early social skills. Our work uses computational modeling and socially interactive robots in different methodological roles to explore questions about social development that are difficult or impossible to assail using methods of other disciplines.