Chorong Park / ELARA Lab & collaborators
Many forms of technology.
One commitment to human agency.
I work with older adults, care communities, and interdisciplinary collaborators to explore what useful, understandable, and people-centered assistance can look like in everyday life.
Research collaborations, community initiatives, and emerging directions from my CV. Each entry identifies my role and the project's stage; proposed work is listed separately below.
Exploring how movement, touch, and customization shape the experience of a robotic companion.
Collaborative research
A participatory HRI study exploring how older adults can shape open-source quadruped robot behavior. The research examines emotional connection, user agency, and long-term trust rather than assuming companionship looks the same for everyone.
Design & prototype planning
Developing a removable, lightweight vest concept that adds controlled warmth and optional vibration to small robotic animals. The work brings together thermal safety, soft materials, and user controls for future studies of comfort, trust, and emotional connection.
Study design
Investigating how a robotic dog might accompany older adults on indoor-to-outdoor walks. Planned studies compare movement, pace matching, voice explanations, and haptic cues to understand comfort, dignity, and a person's sense of control.
Study design
Comparing suggestive coaching with assist-as-needed robot behavior in feeding and stair support. The research asks how tactile and audio cues can support coordination without taking away pace control, dignity, or engagement.
Multi-site study planning
Co-developing a U.S.-Taiwan-Japan study of younger and older adults' experiences with Moflin. The team is examining companionship, attachment, usability, trust, and perceived emotional support, with attention to differences across ages and cultures.
Making assistance understandable while keeping meaningful choices with the person.
Research planning; proposal under review
Exploring indoor drones and assistive robots that could help check safety concerns without constant surveillance. Human-centered work focuses on older-adult co-design, understandable robot behavior, and evaluating privacy, comfort, and trust. A related NSF proposal is submitted, not an awarded grant.
Data analysis & research collaboration
Studying how older adults describe technology difficulties during volunteer support sessions. The project investigates whether large language models can translate those descriptions into clearer support conversations without losing the person's intended meaning.
Research & prototype development
Investigating how artists can understand and control credit, consent, and attribution in AI-assisted work. Studies and prototype concepts explore provenance records, consent interfaces, and attribution dashboards that make otherwise hidden decisions visible.
Designing with care communities across immersive experiences, wearables, and robotics.
Collaborative study development
Exploring shared engagement through cross-device AR experiences, including gesture drawing, memory-based activities, and prompts for joyful interaction. The collaboration connects interaction design with measures of positive affect, social connection, and collaborative behavior.
Research concept & study planning
Exploring personalized AI glasses and holographic companions for older adults, including pill-reminder and communication scenarios. Early work considers familiar avatars, customizable voices, hardware choices, and how to study these experiences responsibly.
Concept & feasibility planning
An early wearable concept pairing ear-EEG-style sensing with adaptive audio for non-clinical calming support. The team is considering signal quality, fit, privacy, and on-device processing before prototype testing; effectiveness has not been established.
Workshop & research planning
An interdisciplinary workshop initiative centered on nurses' needs, concerns, and priorities for robot-assisted training and care. The work translates discussion and rapid concept development into design requirements and directions for follow-up pilots.
Community collaboration & project scoping
Connecting psychology, cognitive aging, and human-AI interaction through community-engaged research. Students and collaborators are exploring how empathetic AI, robotics, and design might fit memory-care and senior-support settings, starting with local needs and potential pilot sites.
Grounding technology research in lived experience, shared learning, and different meanings of care.
Cross-cultural research planning
Planning comparative research with older adults in Seoul and Houston on technology adoption and quality of life. A related research direction asks how cultural, social, and policy contexts shape what care means and how care technologies are received.
Ongoing community program
Connecting university volunteers with older adults for respectful, practical technology support. Shared manuals and a Technology 101 conversation guide support digital confidence while creating opportunities to learn from older adults' experiences and inform future design research.
Ongoing public-engagement initiative
A science-to-public platform connecting HCI, gerontechnology, and robotics research with everyday technology issues. Its focus includes privacy literacy, scam resilience, caregiver support, and practical approaches to safer, more equitable participation.
Looking ahead
These concepts and applications are not funded awards or completed studies. Their stages reflect the supplied CV, not a new funding decision or confirmation that a pilot has begun.
Proposal submitted / under review / PI
A proposed affective-computing study of emotion regulation with AI agents, submitted to the Sony Research Award Program.
Proposal submitted / under review / PI / Houston site lead
A proposed collaboration with Purdue on older-adult co-design, adoption measures, working prototypes, and practical deployment guidance.
Funding application / PI
A proposed collaboration with Katta Spiel at TU Wien on accessible AI for people with diverse cognitive profiles.
Internal proposal submitted / PI
A proposed conversational-AI study of emotional distress and abuse detection in late-stage Alzheimer's care. This is a research aim, not a validated safeguarding tool.
Letter of intent under review / PI
A proposed model for negotiating changing camera, microphone, recording, and sharing preferences in early dementia care, with transparent sensing and event histories.
Proposal submitted / PI
Proposed pop-up digital health navigation clinics and follow-up support for older adults, covering appointments, telehealth readiness, prescription routines, and access to benefits.
Invited to submit a full proposal / Multi-PI
Human-centered adaptation of Rapid Aspiration Screening for Suspected Stroke (RAS3) training for low-resource care settings, with Baylor College of Medicine and University of Houston collaborators.
Proposal in preparation / PI
A proposed co-design and pilot study with Texas Woman's University combining home rehabilitation, communication support, and caregiver-clinician messaging for older adults.
Draft collaboration agreement / Co-PI / UH co-lead
A planned Unitree G1 collaboration with UH Health Design Lab to co-design and evaluate assistive behaviors. The CV records a draft agreement, not a finalized partnership.
CAREER proposal in preparation / PI
A proposed research and education program translating older adults' companionship needs into accessible physical controls, interaction features, and understandable privacy choices.
Concept / proposal in preparation / Collaborator
An AI-enabled public-service concept for older-adult well-being, developed with Minsoo Choi and Keunjae Kim at Oklahoma State University.
Concept development / Team member
A caregiver-centered coordination and training concept with Jordan Lewis and Pedro Acevedo, addressing appointments, transport, provider updates, and follow-through across multigenerational care networks.
Concept development / Team member
A tablet-based AI companion concept with Jordan Lewis and Pedro Acevedo, using family photos, memory notes, and optional music for gentle, non-test-based conversations in dementia care.