Rayna Hata

Hi! I’m Rayna, a Ph.D. candidate at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. I work on accessibility and human-robot interaction (HRI), and I’m advised by Professor Aaron Steinfeld in the Transportation, Bots, and Disability Lab.

My research explores how people interact with robots over time, especially in real-world settings. I’m interested in building systems that don’t just work once, but actually adapt to people as their preferences, needs, and behaviors change. A lot of my work involves deploying robots “in the wild” and learning directly from the people who use them.

In the summer of 2025, I was a research intern at the Miraikan Accessibility Lab in Tokyo, where I worked on assistive robotic systems for blind and visually impaired users.

I graduated from Colby College in 2023 with a B.A. in Computer Science and Japanese. While there, I worked with Professor Stacy Doore on robotic guide dogs for blind users. Outside of research, I spent a lot of time in the pool as a varsity swimmer and also played club rugby.

I’m always excited to connect, chat about research, or collaborate on new ideas.

You can reach me at rhata@andrew.cmu.edu.

I will be interning at Amazon Robotics in Westborough, MA from June to December 2026.