Isabella Pu

Hi y’all! I’m Isabella Pu, a first year PhD student in the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Lab, studying with Professor Cynthia Breazeal. In 2023, I graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and certificate in Robotics & Intelligent Systems, and in 2025 I received my Master’s degree in Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Lab.

Broadly, my research investigates how we can use social robots and AI to create playful, engaging, and educational child-robot/AI interactions. As today’s children become more immersed in AI and robots, it becomes increasingly important to empower children’s usage of these technologies. In particular, I am interested designing and developing new AI and social robot interactions for fun, creative, and hands-on learning. I pursue this line of work in several ways:

• I create child-robot and child-AI interactions to investigate how children can interact with robots and AI in positive, engaging, and educational ways.
• I design K-12 curricula and learning experiences to teach children about AI and robots, empowering them to use these technologies more confidently.
• I develop human-AI and human-robot co-creativity interactions to encourage creative learning and creative uses of technology.

Previously, I have worked at Blizzard Entertainment (for the Horde!) on the Player Interactions & Trust team, building systems to detect disruptive behavior in games and help promote pro-social behavior. If you’re interested in this, check out some of the PIT team’s amazing work.

Outside of work, I am an avid achievement hunter and play all sorts of video games. I also follow fashion, write & play music, and write & perform poetry.