Ciaran Dougherty

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Ciaran Dougherty is a researcher whose work lies at the intersection of human-robot interaction and conversational AI. His primary research focus is on understanding the nuanced, multi-modal dynamics of how humans initiate and engage in dialogue with machines. Dougherty’s most notable contribution is his pioneering 2011 paper, "Collecting multi-modal data of human-robot interaction," which introduced a novel methodological framework and a dedicated robotic platform for recording the critical, yet often overlooked, initiation stages of human-robot conversations. This work provided a systematic tool for capturing synchronized audio, visual, and behavioral data, enabling researchers to analyze the subtle cues—such as gaze, gesture, and prosody—that govern how people naturally begin talking to a machine. While his citation count (7) reflects a focused, specialized impact, this paper has served as a foundational methodological reference for subsequent studies in the field. By addressing the "how" of data collection, Dougherty has helped lay the groundwork for more natural, intuitive robot communication, making his contributions essential reading for students and researchers seeking to build robots that can genuinely understand and respond to human conversational cues.