Zackory Erickson

Zackory Erickson is an Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, where he leads the Robotic Caregiving and Human Interaction Lab. His research focuses on physically assistive robotics that support older adults and people with disabilities, with an emphasis on developing robots capable of safe, intuitive, and reliable interaction with the human body. Erickson’s work spans physical HRI, learning-based assistive manipulation, physics-based simulation for caregiver robots, haptic perception, and adaptive motion generation. He explores how robots can leverage multimodal sensing and predictive models to assist with activities of daily living more effectively and autonomously. His group also develops new wearable and tactile interfaces for improving robot situational awareness in close-contact tasks. Erickson’s research appears in top venues such as CoRL, HRI, ICRA, and RA-L, reflecting a vision of embodied intelligence that enhances human independence and quality of life. His lab encourages interdisciplinary collaboration and welcomes motivated students interested in assistive robotics and human-centered AI.