Headline

Product Manager | Social Robots & Physical AI | PhD in Human-Robot Interaction | I design how robots behave with people and around people

About

My work sits at the intersection of technology, product, and UX. I translate real-world needs and user behavior into product requirements and features that make systems usable, intuitive, and hopefully more likely to earn long-term user acceptance. I thrive in environments where products are co-designed with potential users included in the development process rather than simply testing with them in the end. I particularly enjoy working with teams that value thoughtful engineering, minimal complexity, and simplicity in the product experience—building only what is necessary, and making what is built work well for people. Here is a list of product/projects I have worked on (excluding PhD dissertation work on UX design for a personal service robot arm):- - CC companion robots for elderly living in retirement homes. (Product Manager, Machani Robotics) - IoT for home-based elderly care (Product Consultant for ARTPARK) - Telepresence Robot (as Product Consultant for ARTPARK) - Warehouse Robot (UX Consultant for ATI Motors) - Teaching Assistant Robot for children with autism spectrum disorders (HRI Consultant for an IISc Project) - AI-based HTI meta-analyzer for vocational robotics training workshops (Product Consultant for ARTPARK) What am I looking for? I’ve built robots and SaaS products for the real world. What I’m looking for next is deeper exploration of the Human–Technology relationship—not just building a product, but understanding how it evolves with the people who use it. I’m drawn to work that gives me the space to ask harder questions about how people adapt to technology after the 100th use and what it takes to build systems that remain useful, trusted, and relevant over time.

Location

Bengaluru

AI stack

claude code

claude

lovable

ChatGPT Images

Gamma

Granola

Work experience

Product Manager at Machani Robotics, Feb 2026 - Sep 2026 · 8 mos, On-site, CC is a tabletop companion robot for older adults in senior living. It holds a daily relationship with a resident, and watches their cognitive and physical health through that same relationship. • Owned the product roadmap and the scope of each software version • Designed how CC builds a relationship in stages, going deeper only when a person shows real trust • Turned cognitive assessments into games, so memory, attention and fluency get measured without anyone feeling tested • Defined four product views around the resident: family, caregiver, clinician and facility operator • Worked with the in-house psychologist on the empathy model, onboarding conversations and wellbeing assessments • Worked with the design team on character, expressions, and behaviour during failures and privacy mode • Planned pilots and deployments with senior living communities in the US and UK

UX Consultant at Ati Motors, Dec 2022 - Jul 2023 · 8 mos, Sherpa tug robots were already working in factories, with a tablet handed-out for each robot. On sites with ten or more robots, tablets went missing or got mixed up. • Spent the research phase on factory floors, watching how workers move around the robots • Sorted every robot event by how critical it is, then designed the onboard screen, light patterns and sounds for each category • Worked to three rules: recognition over recall, fewer than six elements on screen, icons instead of words • Built the iconography catalogue with the design team, and the HMI spec with engineers and UI developers • The HMI shipped in the next product version, across a fleet of [500+] robots

Product Consultant at ARTPARK, Aug 2022 - Jan 2026 · 3 yrs 6 mos, On-site, Led products in a translational R&D setting, taking early ideas to a clear product definition. • AHAM telepresence: tested product-market fit across hospitals, retail, events, hospitality and museums, and found the scalable product was the robot-agnostic telepresence software • Ran live demos at India Mobile Congress, Bengaluru Tech Summit and the G20 summit • Delivered a museum trial that led to a proposal to buy two platforms • Home-based dementia care: interviewed [18] family caregivers, wrote a white paper with Prof. Bharadwaj Amrutur, and presented at DemCon'24 • Turned that research into a product brief for an elderly health management platform • Project Pakketa: designed the UX for a cold chain digital public infrastructure on Beckn, covering app, IoT, digital twins and role-based access • Shaped a digital-twin training product for factory workers who work alongside warehouse robots

Course Instructor, Human-Robot Interaction at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Jan 2022 - Aug 2022 · 8 mos, Taught HRI Course CPS 242 at the Centre for Cyber-Physical Systems, IISc: Modules covered by me: determinants and metrics, trust, non-verbal interaction, perceived safety, need-based design, phenomenology, and the emotional consequences of interacting with robots

HRI Consultant at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Dec 2021 - Nov 2022 · 1 yr, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, A learning-assistant robot for children on the autism spectrum, built on an ANKI Cozmo. • Translated classroom learning goals into teacher–student–robot scenarios that fit what a small robot can perceive and do • Bridged the computer science team and the teachers, who were solving the same problem in two different languages • Guided a PhD student through a year of defining HRI scenarios

Interaction Designer at ARTPARK, Aug 2021 - Aug 2022 · 1 yr 1 mo, Bangalore Urban, Karnataka, India, Interaction design for ASHA, a telepresence caregiver robot built on a Sophia platform from Hanson Robotics. • Designed eye contact, head turning towards a voice, and conversation with more than one person, which is what made the robot feel present instead of a screen on wheels • Semi-finalists, ANA Avatar XPRIZE • Designed the interaction for emergency first-responder drones, with health professionals, ambulance operators and call centre staff • Ran usability studies and built low-fidelity prototypes for both

Education

Doctorate, Human Computer Interaction, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Master of Science - MS, Psychology, Banaras Hindu University

Public links

sridattachatterjee.in: https://www.sridattachatterjee.in/