Research¶
The CT-IRL Mobile Platform has been used across multiple published studies on Human-Robot Interaction in public spaces. Below is a summary of the research conducted using this platform, led by Fanjun (Frank) Bu and the Cornell Tech Interaction Lab.
Trash Barrel Robots in the Wild¶
The platform is best known for the Trash Barrel Robot deployments — hoverboard-based mobile bases with trash barrels attached, deployed in real public spaces in New York City using the Wizard of Oz method.
Coverage by IEEE Spectrum: "Humans (Mostly) Love Trash Robots"
Publications¶
Trash Barrel Robot Studies¶
Making Sense of Robots in Public Spaces: A Study of Trash Barrel Robots
THRI 2025 · Fanjun Bu, Kerstin Fischer, Wendy Ju
Trash in Motion: Emergent Interactions with Robotic Trashcans in a Public Square
CHI 2024 · Barry Brown, Fanjun Bu, Ilan Mandel, Wendy Ju
Trash Barrel Robots in the City
HRI 2023 · Fanjun Bu*, Ilan Mandel*, Wen-Ying Lee, Wendy Ju
Wizard of Oz & Field Deployment¶
The People Behind the Robots: How Wizards Wrangle Robots in Public Deployments
CHI 2025 · Hannah R. M. Pelikan, Fanjun Bu, Wendy Ju
Field Notes on Deploying Research Robots in Public Spaces
CHI Extended Abstracts 2024 · Fanjun Bu, Alexandra Bremers, Mark Colley, Wendy Ju
Social Intelligence & Navigation¶
Using Vision-Language Models as Proxies for Social Intelligence in Human-Robot Interaction
arXiv 2025 · Fanjun Bu, Melina Tsai, Audrey Tjokro, Tapomayukh Bhattacharjee, Jorge Ortiz, Wendy Ju
Examines how robots can interpret nonverbal cues (gaze, personal space) to decide when engaging with people is appropriate, combining lightweight detectors with vision-language model queries.
The Robotability Score: Enabling Harmonious Robot Navigation on Urban Streets
CHI 2025 · Matt Franchi*, Maria Teresa Parreira*, Fanjun Bu*, Wendy Ju
SSUP-HRI: Social Signaling in Urban Public Human-Robot Interaction Dataset
ICSR 2024 · Fanjun Bu, Wendy Ju
ReStory: VLM-Augmentation of Social Human-Robot Interaction Datasets
ICSR 2024 · Fanjun Bu, Wendy Ju
Platform Configurations¶
The same hoverboard base has been deployed in multiple configurations:
A standard trash barrel mounted on the mobile base. Deployed in Manhattan plazas as part of HRI'23 and CHI'24 studies.
An office chair mounted on the base, demonstrating the platform's modularity for attaching to everyday furniture.
Press Coverage¶
| Outlet | Date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| CNN Business | April 12, 2023 | These robotic trash cans were filmed to test human-robotic interactions |
| NPR | April 16, 2023 | Researchers released robot trash cans in NYC to see how people would react |
| Cornell Chronicle | April 19, 2023 | (Almost) everyone likes a helpful trash robot |
| USA TODAY | April 15, 2023 | Robo-trash cans patrolling New York plaza make friends, creep out some |
| IEEE Spectrum | March 10, 2023 | Humans (Mostly) Love Trash Robots |