Maja J Matarić
Biographic Data
| ID | 5119009 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Maja J Matarić |
| GIVEN NAMES | Maja J |
| FAMILY NAME | Matarić |
| SIGNATURE | MATARIĆ M J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Southern California |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8958-6666 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 16 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 10 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Designing Robot Identity
Perceptions of gender have a significant impact on human-human interaction, and gender has wide-reaching social implications for robots intended to interact with humans. This work explored two flexible modalities for communicating gender in robots–voice and appearance–and we studied their individual and combined influences on a robot’s perceived gender. We evaluated the perception of a robot’s gender through three online studies. First, we conduc…
Using Socially Assistive Robots in Speech-Language Therapy for Children with Language Impairments
Toward Personalized Affect-Aware Socially Assistive Robot Tutors for Long-Term Interventions with Children with Autism
Affect-aware socially assistive robotics (SAR) has shown great potential for augmenting interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, current SAR cannot yet perceive the unique and diverse set of atypical cognitive-affective behaviors from children with ASD in an automatic and personalized fashion in long-term (multi-session) real-world interactions. To bridge this gap, this work designed and validated personalized mod…
Socially Assistive Robots as Storytellers that Elicit Empathy
Empathy is the ability to share someone else’s feelings or experiences; it influences how people interact and relate. Socially assistive robots (SAR) are a promising means of conveying and eliciting empathy toward facilitating human-robot interaction. This work examines factors that influence the amount of empathy elicited by a SAR storyteller and users’ perceptions of that robot. We conducted an empirical mixed-design study (N=46) using an auton…
Design Metaphors for Understanding User Expectations of Socially Interactive Robot Embodiments
The physical design of a robot suggests expectations of that robot’s functionality for human users and collaborators. When those expectations align with the robot’s true capabilities, users are more likely to adopt the technologies for their intended use. However, the relationship between expectations and socially interactive robot design is not well understood. This article applies the concept of design metaphors to robot design and contributes …
Nonverbal signaling for non-humanoid robots during human-robot collaboration
Non-humanoid robots are becoming increasingly utilized for collaborative tasks across many domains, including industrial and service settings. Collaborative tasks between the human and robot rely on each collaborator's ability to effectively convey their mental state while accurately estimating and interpreting their partner's knowledge, intent, and actions. My research focuses on nonverbal communication signals that a non-humanoid robot can util…
Automated Proxemic Feature Extraction and Behavior Recognition
Robots for Use in Autism Research
Autism spectrum disorders are a group of lifelong disabilities that affect people's ability to communicate and to understand social cues. Research into applying robots as therapy tools has shown that robots seem to improve engagement and elicit novel social behaviors from people (particularly children and teenagers) with autism. Robot therapy for autism has been explored as one of the first application domains in the field of socially assistive r…
Socially Assistive Robotics
Socially assistive robotics (SAR) aims to address critical areas and gaps in care by automating supervision, coaching, motivation, and companion ship aspects of one-on-one interactions with individuals from various large and growing populations, including stroke survivors, the elderly and individuals with dementia, and children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). This article examines the ethical challenges of SAR from three points of view (us…
Socially assistive robotics [Grand Challenges of Robotics]
Socially intelligent robotics is the pursuit of creating robots capable of exhibiting natural-appearing social qualities. Beyond the basic capabilities of moving and acting autonomously, the field has focused on the use of the robot's physical embodiment to communicate and interact with users in a social and engaging manner. One of its components, socially assistive robotics, focuses on helping human users through social rather than physical inte…
Automated Proxemic Feature Extraction and Behavior Recognition
Nonverbal signaling for non-humanoid robots during human-robot collaboration
Non-humanoid robots are becoming increasingly utilized for collaborative tasks across many domains, including industrial and service settings. Collaborative tasks between the human and robot rely on each collaborator's ability to effectively convey their mental state while accurately estimating and interpreting their partner's knowledge, intent, and actions. My research focuses on nonverbal communication signals that a non-humanoid robot can util…
Socially Assistive Robots as Storytellers that Elicit Empathy
Empathy is the ability to share someone else’s feelings or experiences; it influences how people interact and relate. Socially assistive robots (SAR) are a promising means of conveying and eliciting empathy toward facilitating human-robot interaction. This work examines factors that influence the amount of empathy elicited by a SAR storyteller and users’ perceptions of that robot. We conducted an empirical mixed-design study (N=46) using an auton…
Socially assistive robotics [Grand Challenges of Robotics]
Socially intelligent robotics is the pursuit of creating robots capable of exhibiting natural-appearing social qualities. Beyond the basic capabilities of moving and acting autonomously, the field has focused on the use of the robot's physical embodiment to communicate and interact with users in a social and engaging manner. One of its components, socially assistive robotics, focuses on helping human users through social rather than physical inte…
Socially Assistive Robotics
Socially assistive robotics (SAR) aims to address critical areas and gaps in care by automating supervision, coaching, motivation, and companion ship aspects of one-on-one interactions with individuals from various large and growing populations, including stroke survivors, the elderly and individuals with dementia, and children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). This article examines the ethical challenges of SAR from three points of view (us…
Robots for Use in Autism Research
Autism spectrum disorders are a group of lifelong disabilities that affect people's ability to communicate and to understand social cues. Research into applying robots as therapy tools has shown that robots seem to improve engagement and elicit novel social behaviors from people (particularly children and teenagers) with autism. Robot therapy for autism has been explored as one of the first application domains in the field of socially assistive r…
Automated Proxemic Feature Extraction and Behavior Recognition
Nonverbal signaling for non-humanoid robots during human-robot collaboration
Non-humanoid robots are becoming increasingly utilized for collaborative tasks across many domains, including industrial and service settings. Collaborative tasks between the human and robot rely on each collaborator's ability to effectively convey their mental state while accurately estimating and interpreting their partner's knowledge, intent, and actions. My research focuses on nonverbal communication signals that a non-humanoid robot can util…
Toward Personalized Affect-Aware Socially Assistive Robot Tutors for Long-Term Interventions with Children with Autism
Affect-aware socially assistive robotics (SAR) has shown great potential for augmenting interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, current SAR cannot yet perceive the unique and diverse set of atypical cognitive-affective behaviors from children with ASD in an automatic and personalized fashion in long-term (multi-session) real-world interactions. To bridge this gap, this work designed and validated personalized mod…
Socially Assistive Robots as Storytellers that Elicit Empathy
Empathy is the ability to share someone else’s feelings or experiences; it influences how people interact and relate. Socially assistive robots (SAR) are a promising means of conveying and eliciting empathy toward facilitating human-robot interaction. This work examines factors that influence the amount of empathy elicited by a SAR storyteller and users’ perceptions of that robot. We conducted an empirical mixed-design study (N=46) using an auton…
Design Metaphors for Understanding User Expectations of Socially Interactive Robot Embodiments
The physical design of a robot suggests expectations of that robot’s functionality for human users and collaborators. When those expectations align with the robot’s true capabilities, users are more likely to adopt the technologies for their intended use. However, the relationship between expectations and socially interactive robot design is not well understood. This article applies the concept of design metaphors to robot design and contributes …
Using Socially Assistive Robots in Speech-Language Therapy for Children with Language Impairments
Designing Robot Identity
Perceptions of gender have a significant impact on human-human interaction, and gender has wide-reaching social implications for robots intended to interact with humans. This work explored two flexible modalities for communicating gender in robots–voice and appearance–and we studied their individual and combined influences on a robot’s perceived gender. We evaluated the perception of a robot’s gender through three online studies. First, we conduc…
Computer Science (9 works) · Social Robot Interaction and HRI (9 works) · Robot (8 works) · Human–computer interaction (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Artificial Intelligence (6 works) · Human–robot interaction (6 works) · Robotics (5 works) · Assistive Technology in Communication and Mobility (4 works) · Autism (4 works)