Laura Boccanfuso is currently the co-founder and CEO of Vän Robotics. As a former researcher at Yale, she spent 10+ years developing custom robots and interactions to promote learning for kids. Laura received her MS in Computer Science/AI and PhD in Computer Science/Robotics. Laura possesses a unique combination of computer science and cognitive science expertise, shaped through many years of field testing with kids with learning difficulties.

Marilena is the UX research lead at Vän robotics and a Postdoctoral Associate at Yale Child Study Center. She's interested in the application of instructional technology, especial social robots and serious games to assess and enhance socio-emotional and adaptive skills of individuals. Her work at Vän robotics focuses on implementing a robot platform to teach math to K-8 students and how teachers can incorporate it as a tool in their classroom.

10+ years designing and implementing research and commercial systems, including database, networks and applications-specific software