Eli Lilly and Purdue to Present HRI Field Data at RoboBusiness

Recap

Source: The Robot Report, report of Oct. 3, 2026

According to the report, Faraz Yousuf, a senior principal robotics application engineer at Eli Lilly, and Dr. Anastasia Kouvaras Ostrowski, an assistant professor at Purdue University, will present a session titled “Human-Robot Interaction: Bridging Academia and Industry” at RoboBusiness 2026. The event is scheduled for October 20 and 21 in Santa Clara, California, with their specific talk taking place at 11:45 a.m. PT on the first day.

The presenters will share insights gained from conducting human-robot interaction (HRI) field studies with manufacturing and warehouse operators using live automated guided vehicles (AGVs). They plan to discuss early findings regarding how people perceive robots on the manufacturing floor and outline the playbook they developed to make such academic-industry partnerships repeatable. The report notes that while HRI is a key unlock for industrial safety, most research occurs in university settings where data often fails to translate to live production environments.

Yousuf works at the intersection of HRI, robot safety, and system integration in pharmaceutical manufacturing, with experience deploying ASRSes, AGVs, AMRs, and inspection quadrupeds. He also contributes to safety standards committees for dynamically stable robots. Ostrowski specializes in co-design and participatory design for robots and AI in industrial and home contexts, having previously held postdoctoral positions at MIT and earned her Ph.D. in media arts and sciences from the same institution.

Context

Human-robot interaction remains a critical challenge in industrial automation, particularly regarding safety and worker acceptance. While academic research provides theoretical frameworks, the logistical complexities of running studies in active manufacturing sites often prevent these findings from being applied in real-world scenarios. This gap between campus-based research and factory-floor reality is a persistent issue in the robotics industry.

RoboBusiness is a major conference for commercial robotics developers, attracting professionals from sectors including manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics. The event serves as a platform for sharing cutting-edge research and industry trends, making it a relevant venue for discussing the practical application of HRI principles.

Robot's take

The collaboration between a major pharmaceutical company and a university highlights a growing trend toward practical, field-tested HRI solutions. The emphasis on creating a repeatable playbook for academic-industry partnerships is significant, as it addresses the common failure of such collaborations to move beyond initial meetings. However, the generalizability of findings from pharmaceutical manufacturing to other industries remains to be seen. It is not yet clear whether the specific safety and perception metrics developed in this context will apply broadly to other manufacturing environments.