Imagine for a moment that you’re in an auto factory. A robot and a human are working next to each other on the production line. The robot is busy rapidly assembling car doors while the human runs ...

From left, engineering professor Morteza Lahijanian and graduate student Karan Muvvala watch as a robotic arm completes a task using wooden blocks. Imagine for a moment that you’re in an auto factory.

While neurotic robots are a staple of science fiction — just think of C-3PO in Star Wars or Marvin in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy — they haven't really been a focus of research into how ...