Holly Yanco
Holly Yanco researches human-robot interaction and robotics education. She earned her MIT doctorate in 2000 and joined UMass Lowell in July 2001, founding its HRI lab that year. Her research includes interfaces, sensor visualization, adjustable autonomy and assistive applications. She led shared Pyro curriculum development and co-developed Artbotics, which joins art and computing. AAAI elected her a Fellow in 2021.
- Now at
- University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Works
- 197
- Citations
- 5,789
- h-index
- 39
Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 14 October 2026.
Timeline
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2000–2001
Doctoral study and a new lab
Yanco earned a computer-science doctorate at MIT in 2000 and joined UMass Lowell’s faculty in July 2001. She founded her human-robot interaction lab in 2001. The lab brought students at several levels into research on how people interact with robots.
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Lab research career
Interfaces and adjustable autonomy
Her research covers sensor-data visualization, interface design and adjustable autonomy, where a person and robot can share control. Application areas include assistive technology, telepresence and urban search and rescue.
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2005
Learning robotics through software and art
Yanco led the shared development of Pyro, a Python-based robotics curriculum that received courseware recognition in 2005. She also co-developed Artbotics, which combines art and computing for school and university students.
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2021
AAAI fellowship
AAAI elected Yanco a Fellow in 2021 for contributions to human-robot interaction and education and participation.
Sources and credits
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