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Guy Hoffman

Ph.D MAS – Alumni

Guy Hoffman holds an M.Sc. in Computer Science from Tel Aviv University, having graduated from the Interdisciplinary Program for Outstanding Students with concentrations in film studies, computer science, and psychology. His thesis in the Computer Vision and Robotics lab was entitled “A Quadtree Approach to Motion Segmentation into Layers”. His industry experience includes the position of Vice President for Product Development at Internet startup uTOK inc., as well as that of Project Manager at Check Point Software Technologies, where he led the design, implementation, and marketing of a cellular security product. He then studied animation at Parsons School of Design, earning himself the reputation of “always killing the main character”.
Hoffman received his Ph.D. from the MIT Media Laboratory’s Personal Robots Group, with a dissertation entitled “Ensemble: Fluency and Embodiment for Robots Acting with Humans.” His research is concerned with the various mechanisms that underly joint action. Recent work includes the formulation and exploration of embodied cognitive architectures for robotic agents that enable them to perform tasks fluently with their human counterparts, and what it means to practice to get better as a team. Other research is concerned with the application of theater acting techniques to artificial intelligence and robotic stage performers.
He currently works as a Postdoctoral Associate at MIT, still on a quest to make human-robot interaction as satisfying as working together in a well-tuned ensemble.