Hong Wang

Ph.D. Student · Bellini College of AI, Cybersecurity & Computing
University of South Florida  ·  RARE Lab

I am a third-year Computer Science Ph.D. student advised by Professor Zhao Han. Before USF, I received my B.S. in Information & Computing Science from Hohai University (2020) and my M.S. in Computer Science from Stony Brook University (2022).

My research lies at the intersection of robotics and augmented reality, investigating how AR and projector-camera systems can enhance the transparency and explainability of robotic systems to support more intuitive human–robot interaction.

Human-Robot Interaction Augmented Reality (AR) Computer Vision Large Language Models (LLMs) AI
Hong Wang

Publications

Journal
Indicating Robot Vision Capabilities with Augmented Reality
Hong Wang, Ridhima Phatak, James Ocampo, Zhao Han
International Journal of Social Robotics, 2026
LBR
Evaluating Dynamic Surface Compensation for Robots with Projected AR
Hong Wang, Ngoc Bao Dinh, Zhao Han
HRI Companion '26 — Late-Breaking Report
Demo
Bloom Preview: A Low-Cost LLM-Powered Social Robot
Xiangfei Kong, Rex Gonzalez, …, Hong Wang, Hongdao Meng, Zhao Han
HRI '26 Interactivity
Workshop
Exploring Familiar Design Strategies to Explain Robot Vision Capabilities
Hong Wang, Maria Julia Vidal, Zhao Han
X-HRI Workshop @ HRI 2025
Conference
Anywhere Projected AR for Robot Communication: A Mid-Air Fog Screen-Robot System
Adrian Lozada, Uthman Tijani, Villa Keth, Hong Wang, Zhao Han
HRI '25 — ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction
Workshop
To Understand Indicators of Robots' Vision Capabilities
Hong Wang, Tam Do, Zhao Han
VAM-HRI @ HRI 2024
Poster
Designing Indicators to Show a Robot's Physical Vision Capability
Hong Wang, Tam Do, Zhao Han
IEEE VR 2024 — IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces
Conference
Towards Reproducible Language-Based HRI Experiments: Open-Sourcing a Generalized Experiment Project
Uthman Tijani, Hong Wang, Zhao Han
HRI '24 — ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction

News

Oct 2025
RARE Lab research featured on FOX 13 News — USF researchers develop AI robot tech that could save lives in emergencies.
Mar 2025
Received the USF Engineering Alumni Society Conference Grant ($500).
Jan–Apr 2025
Completed UR2PhD Graduate Student Mentor Training — Computing Research Association.
Oct 2024
Presented a live demo of Pepper robot & HoloLens 2 at USF DevFest 2024 to 30+ attendees.
Aug 2024
Winner of the USF Voice AI Summer School Hackathon (Bridge2AI Voice Consortium).
May 2024
Received the USF Engineering Alumni Society Conference Grant ($500).
Apr 2024
Attended the CRA-WP Grad Cohort Workshop for Women.
Mar 2024
Showcased AR robot vision research at USF Innovation Fest.
Jan–Mar 2024
Awarded the NSF I-Corps Site Subgrant ($3,000) as Entrepreneur Lead.
Jan 2024
Accepted as a Student Volunteer at IEEE VR 2024 and HRI 2024.

Teaching

COP 4931 / CIS 6930
Robotics Process Automation
Spring 2025
CIS 6930
Augmented Reality
Fall 2024
COP 4710
Database Design
Summer 2024
CEN 4020
Software Engineering
Spring 2024, Spring 2025
CIS 4250
Ethical Issues in Computing
Fall 2023

Service

Reviewer

2026
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
2025, 2026
ACM/IEEE Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) Conference
2025
ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction (THRI)
2024
IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)

Student Volunteer

2024
ACM/IEEE Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) Conference
2024
IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (IEEE VR)

Education

2023 – Present
Ph.D. in Computer Science University of South Florida · Tampa, FL Advisor: Prof. Zhao Han · RARE Lab
2021 – 2022
M.S. in Computer Science Stony Brook University · Stony Brook, NY
2016 – 2020
B.S. in Information and Computing Science Hohai University · Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

Curriculum Vitae