Human-robot interaction is one of the biggest unlocks left in industrial automation to enable stronger safety, but most HRI research happens on university campuses that produces data that rarely survives contact with a live production floor.
Running studies inside a working manufacturing site is logistically hard enough that most academia–industry partnerships never get past the first meeting.
At RoboBusiness 2026, Faraz Yousuf, a senior principal robotics application engineer at Eli Lilly, and Dr. Anastasia Kouvaras Ostrowski, an assistant professor at Purdue University, will discuss “Human-Robot Interaction: Bridging Academia and Industry.”
RoboBusiness will be on Oct. 20 and 21 in Santa Clara, Calif. Yousuf and Ostrowski’s talk will take place at 11:45 a.m. PT on the first day of the show.
The two will share what they learned running HRI field studies with manufacturing and warehouse operators around live automated guided vehicles (AGVs). They will also explain some early findings about people’s perception of robots on the manufacturing floor and the playbook they built to make the partnership repeatable.
Meet the human-robot interaction experts
Faraz Yousuf is a senior principal robotics application engineer at Eli Lilly. There, he works at the intersection of human-robot interaction, robot safety, inspection robotics, and system integration in pharmaceutical manufacturing environments.
He has experience in designing, deploying, integrating, and supporting ASRSes, AGVs, AMRs, and inspection quadrupeds across multiple types of process areas. He also contributes to the safety standards committees in ANSI R15.08 Part 3, ISO 25785-1, and TR R15.108 that focus on safety for dynamically stable robots.
Dr. Anastasia Kouvaras Ostrowski is an assistant professor in the School of Applied and Creative Computing with a courtesy appointment in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University. Her work supports design and implementation processes in human-computer and human-robot interaction.
Ostrowski specializes in co-design and participatory design approaches, particularly in designing and implementing robots and AI in industrial, manufacturing, and home contexts. She also focuses on designing policies around new technologies in these ecosystems.
Previously, Ostrowski was a postdoctoral researcher in the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing’s Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (SERC) and in the MIT Media Lab’s Personal Robots Group. Anastasia received her Ph.D. in media arts and sciences from MIT, focused on equitable technology design, and she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biomedical engineering from the University of Michigan, focused on engineering design processes and idea generation.
Register now for RoboBusiness
RoboBusiness 2026 is the leading event for commercial robotics developers. Attendees can gain the latest insights from experts in robotics and AI on cutting-edge research; industry trends; and innovative applications in sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture, logistics, and more.
The show also features a number of networking opportunities to give attendees a chance to connect with other experts in the industry.
Buy your full conference pass and gain full access to all keynotes, technical sessions, networking receptions, and special events. Discounts are also available for academia, associations, and corporate groups. Please email events[at]arrowfly.com for more details about our discount programs.
For information about sponsorship and exhibition opportunities, download the prospectus. Questions regarding sponsorship opportunities should be directed to Colleen Sepich at csepich[AT]arrowfly.com.
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