About Me

I am a Ph.D. candidate at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), supervised by Prof. Xiaojuan Ma and Prof. Fugee Tsung since 2022. Previously, I received the Degree of the B.Sc. in Mathematics, and in Computer Science with First Class Honors at HKUST in 2022.

My current research explores how people perceive and engage with various forms of robots, while fostering value alignment between humans and robots. The goal is to enhance human-robot teaming and cultivate meaningful human-robot attachment, in the fields of Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).

I am currently seeking an overseas visiting opportunity within an HRI research group, with the goal of contributing to cross-cultural understanding in social HRI.

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Interests
  • Social Human-Robot Interaction
  • Human-Robot Attachment
  • Human-Robot Value Alignment
  • Human-Robot Teaming
  • Human-Computer Interaction
Education

  • Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Computer Science and Engineering

    The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

  • Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Mathematics, and in Computer Science

    The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Featured Publications
Signaling Human Intentions to Service Robots: Understanding the Use of Social Cues during In-Person Conversations
FARPLS: A Feature-Augmented Robot Trajectory Preference Labeling System to Assist Human Labelers' Preference Elicitation
Recent Publications
Hanfang Lyu, Xiaoyu Wang, Nandi Zhang, Shuai Ma, Qian Zhu, Yuhan Luo, Fugee Tsung, Xiaojuan Ma (2025). Signaling Human Intentions to Service Robots: Understanding the Use of Social Cues during In-Person Conversations. In CHI ‘25, Honorable Mention Award.
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Kangyu Yuan, Li Zhang, Hanfang Lyu, Ziqi Pan, Yuanhao Zhang, Junze Li, Bingcan Guo, Jiaxiong Hu, Qingyu Guo, Xiaojuan Ma (2025). "I Love the Internet Again": Exploring the Interaction Inception of "TikTok Refugees" Flocking into RedNote. In CHI ‘25.
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Hanfang Lyu, Yuanchen Bai, Xin Liang, Ujaan Das, Chuhan Shi, Leiliang Gong, Yingchi Li, Mingfei Sun, Ming Ge, Xiaojuan Ma (2024). FARPLS: A Feature-Augmented Robot Trajectory Preference Labeling System to Assist Human Labelers' Preference Elicitation. In IUI ‘24.
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Qingyu Guo, Chao Zhang, Hanfang Lyu, Zhenhui Peng, Xiaojuan Ma (2023). What Makes Creators Engage with Online Critiques? Understanding the Role of Artifacts' Creation Stage, Characteristics of Community Comments, and their Interactions. In CHI ‘23.
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Education

  1. Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Computer Science and Engineering

    The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
    • Supervisors: Prof. Xiaojuan Ma and Prof. Fugee Tsung
    • Teaching Assistant in CORE1232 2022 Spring, COMP1022P Fall 2023, COMP2211 Fall 2024

  2. Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Mathematics, and in Computer Science

    The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
    • The Chern Class Graduate with Achievement Scholarship
    • First Class Honors
Skills & Hobbies
Technical Skills
Data Science
Machine Learning
Python, Unity, C++, etc.
Hobbies
Cats
The Rubik’s Cube
Badminton, Swimming, Hiking, etc.
Selected Awards and Certifications
Honorable Mention
CHI 2025, SIGCHI, ACM ∙ March 2025
For our paper “Signaling Human Intentions to Service Robots: Understanding the Use of Social Cues during In-Person Conversations”
Chern Class Achievement Scholarship
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology ∙ December 2021
DeepLearning.AI Deep Learning Specialization
Coursera ∙ May 2020