Carla Diana is a designer, author, and educator who explores how emerging technologies can enrich everyday life through product design and tangible interaction. As Director of Product Design and Associate Professor at Lawrence Technological University, she leads students in investigating the intersections of form, function, and future technologyShe is also Design Advisor and former Head of Design for Diligent Robotics, an AI and robotics company building assistants for healthcare environments.

Her work spans advanced product development, public installations, and speculative design. A recognized thought leader in her field, she has written extensively on the societal impacts of design and robotics, with her essays and articles appearing in The New York Times, Popular Science, The Atlantic, and The Guardian. She is also the recipient of the prestigious Knight New Work grant, which funded “Mobility Town: Out of Our Cars and Into the World,” an immersive public exhibition at Michigan Central exploring the future of autonomous transit.

As an active contributor to the academic scientific community, her research on human-robot interaction, emotional design, and collaborative choreography has been published and presented at premier venues, including the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems and CSCW.

»Education

• M.F.A. in 3D Design, Cranbrook Academy of Art
• B.E. in Mechanical Engineering, The Cooper Union

» Research Interests

• Product design and tangible interaction
• Emerging technologies and future tech
• Human-centered and emotionally intelligent design
• Robotics and AI in everyday products
• Public engagement through interactive installations

» Selected Publication, Grants, and Patents

• My Robot Gets Me: How Social Design Can Make New Products More Human, Harvard Business Review Press, 2021.
• Chang, X., Diana, C., et al., “A Constructed Response: Designing and Choreographing Robot Arm Movements in Collaborative Dance Improvisation,” CSCW, 2025.
• “Designing Robots That Work and Matter,” Designing (Interactions with) Robots: Methods and Perspectives, Taylor and Francis, 2024.
• LEO the Maker Prince: Journeys in 3D Printing, Maker Media, 2013.
• Diana, C., et al., “The Shape of Simon: Creative Design of a Humanoid Robot Shell,” Proceedings of ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2011.
• Diana, C., “Fragile: A Case Study for Evoking Specific Emotional Responses,” Proceedings of ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2008.
• Grant Award: Co-Investigator, Hong Kong Research Grant Council (GRF), “Motion Research: Performing and Designing with Human-Robot Collaborative Movements and Choreographies,” 2023–2025.
• Grant Award: Knight New Work Detroit, “Mobility Town: Out of Our Cars and Into the World,” 2023–2025.
• Patent: Contact-Responsive Metronome (Utility), U.S. Patent No. 11,921,469, 2024.
• Patent: Contact-Responsive Metronome (Design), U.S. Patent No. D798,748, 2017.

» Professional Experience

• Director of Product Design and Associate Professor, Lawrence Technological University
• Design Advisor and former Head of Design, Diligent Robotics
• Design leadership roles at Smart Design and frog