Hi, I’m Lulu Zhao (赵璐璐).

My research began in robotics and embodied intelligence, and that experience continues to inform how I think about and build interactive systems. Rather than viewing intelligent systems strictly as autonomous agents or black-box optimizers, I am curious about AI as a material for design—how physical and interactive affordances shape people’s understanding, trust, and creative relationship with technology.

Before Cornell, I completed my Bachelor of Engineering in Artificial Intelligence at Beijing Normal University, spent a semester on exchange at CUHK exploring deformable object manipulation, and conducted summer research at Carnegie Mellon University on dexterous manipulation with soft anthropomorphic hands.