iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Claire Yang @claireyang.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

While my bluesky is primarily meant for professional and research-related posts, I wanted to share this resource for anyone who is wondering how they might take action to support Minnesotans: www.standwithminnesota.com. Please share with your networks and help out if you can.

standwithminnesota.com

Stand With Minnesota Donation Directory

Stand With Minnesota is a hub for supporting, learning, and taking action to support Minnesotans impacted by ICE and federal enforcement.

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Claire Yang @claireyang.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

This is why work on human-robot interaction, robot autonomy, and privacy is important. How long will the teleoperator need to be involved to collect enough robot data for the robot to be autonomous? It may be far longer than promised (see Tesla and their decade-old promise of autonomous vehicles)

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Reposted by Claire Yang

Kunal Jha @kjha02.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

Forget modeling every belief and goal! What if we represented people as following simple scripts instead (i.e "cross the crosswalk")? Our new paper shows AI which models others’ minds as Python code 💻 can quickly and accurately predict human behavior! shorturl.at/siUYI%F0%9F%...

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Claire Yang @claireyang.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

I like how this viewpoint emphasizes how AI can have both profound, transformative (and potentially risky) effects on society while not fixating on a catastrophic scenario -- it definitely makes it easier, as the article states, "to grapple with the weirdness and disruption that is happening today."

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Reposted by Claire Yang

Allen School @uwcse.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Companies are pouring billions into humanoid #robotics. In a new @spectrum.ieee.org ‬ op-ed, #UWAllen professor @mayacakmak.bsky.social wonders whether people would really welcome such robots into their homes — and looks forward to taking one for a spin for science. spectrum.ieee.org/home-humanoi...

spectrum.ieee.org

Do People Really Want Humanoid Robots in Their Homes?

Investors are pouring billions into humanoid robots, but do people actually want them in their homes?

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Claire Yang @claireyang.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

While it's important to note that our findings may not generalize to the full population (n=21 vignette survey), they have major implications for companies rushing to deploy autonomous household robots with remote teleoperators. It challenges the industry assumption that "more autonomous = better."

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Claire Yang @claireyang.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

3) End user programmed robots that learn from the user’s demonstrations/instructions are a promising paradigm for autonomous robots that give the user higher control over the robot’s intentions. This translated into a significantly higher sense of agency rating from the participants.

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Claire Yang @claireyang.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

2) Preferences for robot autonomy and amount of user control vary with the context & its risk. Users preferred to have full control over the robot in high risk scenarios, and preferred the opposite in low risk scenarios. Privacy and social concerns enhanced their risk rating & desire for control.

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Claire Yang @claireyang.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

✏️ Key findings: 1) Third-party involvement in robot programming or control had a significantly larger negative effect on the participants' sense of agency than whether the robot acted autonomously.

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Claire Yang @claireyang.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

But the big question is: do people want this? How does it affect their sense of agency (aka their feeling of control) over their environment? What factors determine their preferences?

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Claire Yang @claireyang.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Companies like 1X and Weave have announced their plans to deploy assistive robots. These robots will act autonomously, with third party teleoperators ready to intervene in case of failure. This mode of operation is necessary, as robot behaviors are not yet robust enough for households.

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Claire Yang @claireyang.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

I’m presenting our paper “Preserving Sense of Agency: User Preferences for Robot Autonomy and User Control across Household Tasks” at IEEE RO-MAN 2025! We challenge a core assumption in robotics: do users want autonomous household robots with third party teleoperators? 🧵 arxiv.org/abs/2506.19202

arxiv.org

Preserving Sense of Agency: User Preferences for Robot Autonomy and User Control across Household Tasks

Roboticists often design with the assumption that assistive robots should be fully autonomous. However, it remains unclear whether users prefer highly autonomous robots, as prior work in assistive rob...

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Claire Yang @claireyang.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Still catching up on my notes after my first #cogsci2025, but I'm so grateful for all the conversations and new friends and connections! I presented my poster "When Empowerment Disempowers" -- if we didn't get the chance to chat or you would like to chat more, please reach out!

Person standing next to poster titled "When Empowerment Disempowers"

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