This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award will support research that seeks to enable robots to work more safely and effectively alongside humans by developing a new constraint-aware framework that helps them understand and adapt to real-world challenges. While robots have made great strides in recent years, they still struggle with fluid physical collaboration in busy, unpredictable environments. The key issue is that today’s robots lack awareness of the physical, perceptual, and cognitive limitations of both themselves and the humans they interact with. Without this awareness, they cannot adapt effectively to changing tasks, human movements, or environmental conditions. This research project looks to bridge that gap by developing new algorithms and control methods that allow robots to better predict human intent, adjust their behavior in real time, and ensure safe and stable interactions. The goal is to make robots more useful in physically demanding and safety-critical tasks across industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, construction, and disaster response. If successful, these advances will help prevent workplace injuries by assisting with heavy lifting, reducing strain from repetitive tasks, and improving overall efficiency. Beyond research, this project also includes educational and outreach programs looking to train the next generation of engineers and expand STEM opportunities. By making robots smarter, safer, and more adaptable, the researc