Lydia Ignatova
Hello! I'm a second-year PhD student at the University of Southern California, working with Maja Matarić in the Interaction Lab.
I am supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP).
I work on machine learning and robotics, with a focus on socially assistive robotics.
I'm especially interested in developing intelligent systems that can support, engage, and collaborate with people, and I love teaching as a way to share knowledge and inspire others.
Previously, I worked with Sergey Levine in Berkeley's Robotic AI & Learning Lab on reinforcement learning and robotics.
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lignatov 🐶 usc 🌐 edu
A Deployable Architecture for Robot-Mediated Tasks (DART): Evaluation in Socially Assistive Robot-Guided Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Exercises
Mina Kian*, Lydia Ignatova*, Jiong Wang,
Ji Min Lee, Jiancheng Li, Qianwei Guo, Emily Weiss, et al.
arXiv Preprint, 2026
*Equal contribution
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PDF
LLM-Powered Socially Assistive Robot-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Exercises: An Exploratory Study with University Students
Mina Kian, Mingyu Zong, Katrin Fischer, Abhyuday Singh,
Anna-Maria Velentza, Amy O’Connell, Lydia Ignatova, et al.
Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 2026
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PDF
Learning to Drive Anywhere with Model-Based Reannotation
Noriaki Hirose, Lydia Ignatova, Kyle Stachowicz,
Catherine Glossop, Sergey Levine, Dhruv Shah
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2026
Webpage •
PDF •
IEEE
LiReN: Lifelong Autonomous Fine-Tuning of Navigation Foundation Models in the Wild
Kyle Stachowicz*, Lydia Ignatova*, Sergey Levine
CoRL 2024
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PDF
Summer
2024
TA for JamCoders, a 4-week summer camp on algorithms and programming for high school students in Kingston, Jamaica.
Fall
2024
Lab TA for EECS 16A: Designing Information Devices and Systems I taught by Babak Ayazifar and JP Tennant (first semester the class was taught without circuits!)
Spring
2024
TA and Reader Leader for CS 189: Introduction to Machine Learning taught by Jonathan Shewchuk
Fall
2023
Lab TA
for EECS 16A: Designing Information Devices and Systems I
taught by Prof. Ranade
Department Tutor
for the Center for Access to Engineering Excellence (CAEE)
Spring
2023
Lab Assistant
for EECS 16A: Designing Information Devices and Systems I
taught by Rikky Muller
and Laura Waller
Department Tutor
for the Center for Access to Engineering Excellence (CAEE)
Fall
2022
Lab Assistant for EECS 16A: Designing Information Devices and Systems I taught by Prof. Arias and Miki Lustig
Spring
2022
Tutor for LAW 276.34: Computer Programming for Lawyers taught by Chris Hoofnagle
2019-
2021
Tutor at the Russian School of Math
Fall
2024
UC Berkeley Golden Bear Orientation Leader for transfers (go group 626!)
Fall
2023
Internal Vice President of ML@B
Fall
2022
UC Berkeley Golden Bear Orientation Leader for freshmen (go group 320!)
2026
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP)
2025
USC Viterbi School of Engineering Graduate School Fellowship
2025
UC Berkeley Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award
2024
EECS Chair's Special Award for my contributions as an inclusive TA
2021
UC Berkeley Regents' and Chancellor's Scholarship
Orange County Mensa Foundation STEM Scholarship for Women
2020
Irvine Rotary Youth Community Service Award
Presidential Volunteer Service Award
2019
Presidential Volunteer Service Award
Play
I've been loving this daily puzzle: enclose.horse
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Fav podcasts at the moment: Hard Fork (RIP), Freakonomics Radio, No Stupid Questions, Hidden Brain, Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!.