Brian Scassellati
Brian Scassellati connects robotics with human social development. His research uses embodied models to study social behavior and applications in assistive robotics. Scassellati earned his MIT computer science doctorate in 2001. His work with Rodney Brooks used developmental psychology models to build a primitive robot system for understanding people. Scassellati used Cog and Kismet in his MIT work to study the development of social capabilities for humanoid robots.
- Now at
- Yale University
- Works
- 290
- Citations
- 17,932
- h-index
- 60
Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 14 October 2026.
Timeline
-
2001
Robots and social understanding
Scassellati earned his MIT computer science doctorate in 2001. His work with Rodney Brooks used developmental psychology models to build a primitive robot system for understanding people.
-
2003–2007
Early research recognition
Scassellati received an NSF CAREER award in 2003 and an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in 2007.
-
2024
Research recognition
AAAI elected Brian Scassellati as a Fellow in 2024.
-
As of October 2026
Cog and Kismet
Scassellati used Cog and Kismet in his MIT work. He studied their role in developing social capabilities for humanoid robots.
-
As of October 2026
Models and assistive applications
His research uses computational models of early social development and robots to study and measure social-development disorders.
Sources and credits
Photo: scazlab.yale.edu; Brian Scassellati profile photograph; creator not stated. License: Not stated by source. Source: scazlab.yale.edu. Cropped to a square and resized. Ask us to remove or replace this photo.