I am Nathan Dennler, a Human-Robot Interaction researcher. I received my PhD from the University of Southern California, where I was co-advised by Stefanos Nikolaidis and Maja Matarić. My research moves toward a future where users can quickly and efficiently adapt generic robots to align with their individual preferences, values, and needs.

I address this problem through three research domains to align robots with users' preferences: (1) robot design, (2) physical interaction, and (3) social interaction. I evaluate my approaches using real robots that interact with real users to address real problems—especially assistive robots for users with limited mobility. For a complete listing of my work, head over to my Research page.

I previously received a B.S. in Computer Science and a B.Eng. in Robotics Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. In my spare time, you can find me find me figure skating at Yerba Buena, designing and sewing garments in my living room, running around the streets of the Castro, or whacking/waacking/punking in any of the aforementioned spaces. If you want to see me do any of these things (and more!), check out my Miscellany page.

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Selected Publications

Journal Papers

A metric for characterizing the arm nonuse workspace in poststroke individuals using a robot arm
Nathaniel Dennler, Amelia Cain, Erica De Guzman, Claudia Chiu, Carolee Winstein, Stefanos Nikolaidis, and Maja Matarić.
Science Robotics 8, eadf7723(2023). DOI:10.1126/scirobotics.adf7723.
[free access]

Using Design Metaphors to Understand User Expectations of Socially Interactive Robot Embodiments.
Nathaniel Dennler, Changxiao Ruan, Jessica Hadiwijoyo, Brenna Chen, Stefanos Nikolaidis, and Maja Matarić.
2023 ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction (THRI).
[pdf] [website]

Conference Papers

Contrastive Learning from Exploratory Actions: Leveraging Natural Interactions for Preference Elicitation.
Nathaniel Dennler, Stefanos Nikolaidis, and Maja Matarić.
2025 IEEE/ACM Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2025).

Design and Evaluation of a Hair Combing System Using a General-Purpose Robotic Arm.
Nathaniel Dennler, Eura Shin, Maja Matarić, and Stefanos Nikolaidis.
2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS).
[pdf] [video]