Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science Faculty Spotlight Brian Scassellati Professor of Computer Science & Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science Brian Scassellati's research focuses on building embodied computational models of human social behavior. Using computational modeling and socially interactive robots, Scassellati's Social Robotics Lab evaluates models of how infants acquire social skills and assists in the diagnosis and quantification of disorders of social development. Other interests include humanoid robots, humanrobot interaction, artificial intelligence, machine perception, and social learning. News A robot that survives through self-amputation Self-amputation may seem like a drastic move, but it’s a survival tactic that’s proved particularly handy for numerous creatures. Yale roboticists have drawn inspiration from lizards, crabs,... more »